OSHAWA, Ontario—Unifor, the union that represents 2,600 workers at General Motors’ Oshawa plant, launched a campaign Dec. 13 to try to convince the company to keep the plant open.
“General Motors have made a strategic move to leave Canada,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias told the Toronto Sun. If the company doesn’t “indicate to us they are looking for a solution,” he warned, “then 2019 will likely be the worst year for General Motors in history in Canada, because we will run the most aggressive campaign to keep our plant open in Oshawa that General Motors have ever seen in their life.” A GM spokesperson said the plant’s fate is sealed, that “production will be ending in 2019, so our best collective effort should be how best to transition our workers.” The company says it has 400 jobs open at other plants and dealerships in Ontario, and will help pay for 2,000 workers to go back to school to be retrained for jobs in energy and other industries in the area. Dias says it is offering to retrain people “for a job that won’t exist.”
