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Unifor, UAW turn up the heat on GMThe unions representing U.S. and Canadian auto workers are intensifying their public campaign to keep open five General Motors Co. plants in North America.
As Canadian trade union Unifor argued its case Thursday at GM's Renaissance Center headquarters to keep open the automaker’s Oshawa Assembly Plant in Ontario, the United Auto Workers organized a vigil at the endangered Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in a press conference in Windsor following his meeting with GM that the conversation was “frustrating,” but says GM did not “unilaterally shut the door.” Dias said the automaker has promised to consider Unifor's concerns and come back with any decisions by Jan. 7.
Unifor's summit with GM leaders comes as the union used four-page ads in Detroit newspapers to chastise the automaker for manufacturing in Mexico at the same time it readies to idle one plant in Canada and four plants plants in the U.S. next year. Unifor amped up efforts to keep Oshawa Assembly running last week with the launch of a social media campaign dubbed #SaveOshawaGM.
Dias held up the front-page wraparound ad during a press conference after his meeting with GM and said it was a message for the automaker and for workers in the U.S.
“The problem isn’t with the American auto worker,” Dias said. “We are standing here with American auto workers that are going to be impacted, and we are here to stand hand in hand with our sisters and brothers who work for GM in the U.S.”
Meantime, the UAW organized a vigil at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, which will wind down production entirely by June 1, affecting some 1,350 union-represented workers at the plant. Workers at Detroit-Hamtramck build the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Chevrolet Impala and plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt, all of which will permanently cease production next year.
Workers at Oshawa build the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS, which will be discontinued when production of those vehicles stops at the end of 2019. GM has not yet allocated new product to the plant, which is also winding down production of previous-generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.
Unifor has asked GM to consider continuing production of the older trucks while it looks for a longer-term option.
“The GM restructuring decisions are extremely difficult for Oshawa, but we believe the best approach is to work together to support our employees including support for local training and transition initiatives in the Durham Region,” GM said in an emailed statement following the Thursday meeting with Unifor. “We remain committed to Canada and will continue to engage in dialogue with Unifor.”
Oshawa and Detroit-Hamtramck are among the five plants in the U.S. and Canada GM said it would idle next year as part of a sweeping restructuring of its manufacturing operations and workforce. GM will also cut some 8,000 white-collar jobs by leveraging about 6,000 layoffs. The other U.S. plants include Warren Transmission, Baltimore Operations in Maryland and the Lordstown Complex in northeast Ohio.
Lordstown, which builds the soon-to-be-discontinued Chevrolet Cruze, has become the object of Tesla CEO Elon Musk's desire after he told Lesley Stahl of CBS's “60 Minutes” that he may be interested in using Lordstown as his electric car company looks to grow.
GM's Lordstown plant is not currently for sale. Union representation at the facility poses a problem for Musk, who has fended off UAW-organizing efforts at Tesla's only assembly plant in Fremont, Calif. But Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a report Thursday that he sees a potential for Tesla in Lordstown.
“We merely ask investors to play out a scenario where Elon Musk potentially makes an offer to save the Lordstown plant (saving thousands of jobs in the Lordstown/Youngstown region) that is slated to be shut down over a dispute about EV incentives and labor union negotiations,” Jonas wrote. “In our opinion, given the parties involved in this story … we think there is a distinct possibility that the event path could evolve into something with greater significance for the stocks involved.”
The Detroit automaker said last week it would be able to offer new positions to roughly 2,700 of the 2,800 active U.S. hourly employees affected by the plant idlings. For Canadian workers, GM says it is working with dealers, local colleges and other employers to train and help secure jobs for impacted workers.
“The simple reality is we need to find a solution,” Dias said. Unifor's “campaign will escalate, it will not die down.”
nnaughton@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @NoraNaughton
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