GM workers walk off job amid Oshawa uncertainty

CTVNews.ca Staff</span>
Published Monday, November 26, 2018 9:08AM EST
Last Updated Monday, November 26, 2018 9:40AM EST

Workers at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont. have walked off the job as they wait to learn more about how long their jobs will continue to exist.

Many morning shift workers were seen leaving the facility shortly after 9 a.m. Monday. Several told reporters that they had been instructed to leave the plant by their union.

“There’s people in there bawling their eyes out. We can’t get any answers,” one man told reporters.

The walkout comes following the news, which was first reported by CTV Toronto, that GM plans to cease operations at the assembly plant by the end of 2019. GM said Sunday night it has nothing to publicly announce.

Workers said they hoped a union meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon would provide some clarity as to the future of the operation.

This is a breaking news update. Previous story follows.

The mayor of Oshawa, Ont., says he was given no heads-up that the city’s biggest employer apparently plans to withdraw from the city.

“We still haven’t received any information at all about what’s even going to happen here today,” John Henry told CP24 Monday morning.

Henry said he learned of General Motors’ decision to close its operations in Oshawa the same way many of the company’s employees did, after CTV News first reported it on Sunday.

“When General Motors needs to find me, they tend to be able to find me and have a conversation,” Henry said.

“I’m a little disappointed that I’ve reached out and the comment I’ve got back is ‘We’re not able to talk until 9:30 today.’”

GM plans to pull out of Oshawa as part of a global restructuring aimed at refocusing the company on lower-emission vehicles, sources told CTV Toronto. The company said Sunday night that it had no public comment to make at that time.

Henry said he had met with company representatives within the past month. They had talked about ideas for what to do with vacant GM-owned lands in the city, Henry said, and nothing was said to suggest that GM didn’t see a future for itself in Oshawa.

Workers arriving for morning shifts at the assembly plant seemed equally surprised by the news.

“I just wish they would come out straight and be straight with everybody,” one man, who identified himself as a 17-year employee named Clay, said.

“Don’t play dirty games. I don’t like it. I know a lot of people around here don’t like it.”

A full closure of the Oshawa plant would leave 2,500 unionized workers and 300 salaried employees out of work, with indirect effects rippling across the southern Ontario auto industryand beyond.

GM announced last month that it was offering buyouts to approximately 18,000 of its 50,000 salaried employees in North America. It said the buyouts, which were announced on the same day the company reported a $2.5-billion profit, were due to expected future financial challenges brought on by declining sales and U.S.-imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The company has promised to reduce its structural costs by $6.5 billion per year by the end of 2018, and said in October that it was close to delivering on that pledge.

With files from CP24 and The Associated Press

Let's block ads! (Why?)