GM declares war on Canadian union

Some 2,500 members of Unifor Local 88 walked off the job at the CAMI Automotive assembly plant on Sept. 17 at GM’s factory in Ingersoll, Ontario after the automaker rejected Unifor’s call to have the plant designated as lead production site for the Equinox in North America. Four weeks into a strike by Cami workers, General Motors still hasn’t responded to a key union demand — a letter guaranteeing job security at the Ingersoll plant. The Equinox was the second best-selling model in the United States Chevrolet lineup in September

Unifor is refusing to make concessions after GM threatened to move production to Mexico. The union will not withdraw its demand that GM pledge to keep Equinox production in Canada, Unifor President Jerry Dias said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, GM warned Unifor that it would start winding down production at the CAMI plant and ramp up Equinox output at two plants in Mexico unless workers called off their strike. 

“GM, at some time or another, is going to have to make a commitment to Canada, it’s going to have to make a commitment to the United States and they can’t continue to shift our jobs to Mexico,” Dias told Reuters. It is impossible to compete by cutting Canadian costs below those of Mexico, where workers make $2 an hour, Dias said. “They made a major investment in this plant, so I would expect that GM is going to want to get their investment back,” Dias said. “But is there a long-term threat? The answer is absolutely yes.”

"The bottom line is that by doing this at this point in the negotiations, they are really thumbing their nose at both Canada and the United States,” Dias said. “They have declared war on Canada.” 

Because of the auto industry’s just-in-time parts delivery system, with components delivered straight to the assembly line rather than being warehoused, the more than month-long strike has idled many in the wider industry, including at auto parts makers and trucking firms that supply Cami with Dias estimating that some 30,000 workers are feeling the impact. 

“We’re feeling the effects — whether it’s at our grocery stores or commercial outlets downtown,” Ingersoll Mayor Ted Comiskey said.GM temporarily laid off some workers at three of its plants producing parts for the CAMI plant: a transmission factory in Ontario and two engine plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Flint, Michigan. 

“GM has a capacity issue in North America and they need to close a plant. This could be the path of least resistance. It’s no more complicated than that,” said Susquehanna International Group auto analyst Matthew Stover.

 Labour analyst Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. said, it may be the automaker simply wants to avoid setting a precedent on guaranteed employment. “It’s NAFTA in a microcosm,” Dziczek said of the situation. “It’s highlighting bigger issues that can’t be solved at the bargaining table,” she added. “These are international relations and political issues, not industrial issues.”

The workforce at GM’s San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico grew to 5,000 from 4,000 workers this year, as the automaker invested in production of its Trax line of SUVs, said federal labor delegate Edgar Duron. Workers at that GM plant earn at least four times the national minimum wage, added Duron, who hopes more production comes to San Luis Potosi.

Local 88 president Dan Borthwick said the union's position on the issues has not changed since the talks recessed last Thursday. "We need to provide some type of job security for our members and address our contract language in the plant, along with addressing our outstanding economic items."