Political solution needed to save Oshawa jobs: CAW official
Barry Arseneault directs traffic around a roadblock the Canadian Auto Workers set up outside the General Motors head office in Oshawa, Ont., on June 4. (J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)
Political pressure is the only way to save the up to 2,700 jobs that will be lost at the Oshawa, Ont., pickup truck plant next year, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) economist Jim Stanford said Tuesday.
"We cannot save this industry at the bargaining table," he said on CBC Newsworld, noting that the union agreed to a wage freeze, contributed millions of dollars in operating savings and the plant is productive.
Political heat on leaders like federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who represents an Oshawa-area riding, is the key to getting GM to reverse its decision to close the plant late in 2009, he said.
"That's what will protect the jobs at the end of the day."
Stanford said the CAW will continue to work on saving the jobs over the next year.
Stanford said trade deals like NAFTA, which allows companies to produce products anywhere in the three countries that are part of the agreement and sell them freely, are a real problem. GM will move the Oshawa work to Mexico, he said.
Unless there is a requirement that companies produce where they sell, "we'll never be able to protect our jobs," Stanford said.
GM said on June 3 that it will close the truck assembly plant in 2009, citing collapsing sales for the large pickups built there. About 2,600 CAW jobs will be lost if the plant closes.
Engineers, technicians laid off
On Tuesday, Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton revealed GM has laid off up to 100 highly skilled engineers and technicians from the engineering centre in Oshawa. They were working on cutting-edge projects, such as the design and construction of an innovative wind tunnel at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa.
Much of this work is being transferred to GM's Technical Center just outside Detroit.
After GM announced the closing, CAW members blockaded its Oshawa headquarters. The company said it was ready to go to court to stop the protest, which is entering its second week, but was also willing to work with the CAW.
CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley said the union will wait to see what happens before responding.
Union considering legal options: HargroveCAW president Buzz Hargrove said on the weekend that the union was considering its legal options — a grievance, arbitration or court action — to keep the plant open.
GM CEO Rick Wagoner said higher gasoline prices are changing consumer behaviour, so sales of gas guzzlers like pickups have fallen dramatically.
"We at GM don't think this is a spike or a temporary shift. We believe that it is, by and large, permanent," he said June 3 in announcing the closure of the Oshawa plant, two others in the U.S. and one in Mexico.
The CAW's anger is clear from its rhetoric. Hargrove recently called GM's plan a “despicable act” that undermines the entire collective agreement process.
Stanford said the contract is there "in black and white" and GM hasn't lived up to its responsibility, but analysts have said the agreement has a loophole allowing the company to close the plant.
The union allowed payroll employees through the Oshawa blockade on Monday so workers could get paid.
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