Workers at GM in Oshawa, Ont., stunned at closure announcement
Allison Jones, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OSHAWA, Ont. - The shock and anger was palpable Tuesday afternoon as stone-faced workers streamed out of General Motors' pickup truck assembly plant east of Toronto, where they learned a few hours earlier the jobs many have held for more than two decades would soon be gone.
Those who weren't stunned into silence shouted angrily as they left the plant.
"I'm pretty upset," said Randall Carswell, who has worked in the sector for 24 years. He said he has seen a lot of changes in his time, but none quite like this.
"I have never seen such a drastic slam so fast and everybody fall so hard, so quick."
Earlier Tuesday, General Motors Corp. announced that in 2009 it will shut four North American plants, including a truck assembly operation in Oshawa, which the Canadian Auto Workers said employs 2,600 people.
Carswell, who has five children and is now worried about how he will pay the bills, is directing his anger at Ottawa. He said the federal government, including Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who represents the Oshawa riding in the Commons, has let Canadians down by painting a rosy picture of the economy.
"There's no manufacturing jobs left anymore," he said.
"There's lots of service sector jobs, but how do you afford your mortgages and your insurance and everything? It makes it very tough."
A wave of plant closures in the auto and lumber industries has battered the manufacturing sector in Ontario and Quebec in the last two years as companies get squeezed by a high Canadian dollar, a plunging U.S. housing market and a weakening American economy that has cut demand for cars, auto parts, lumber and other building materials.
With all the hits the beleaguered manufacturing sector has taken of late, Michael Goodwin said the bad news was not entirely unexpected, but still hard to digest.
"It's devastating," he said. "There was talk of going down to one shift come September, but when they announce something like this...I don't think you're ever prepared to have that happen."
At General Motors, there's a chance some workers may not lose their jobs entirely next year, but instead get work on the nearby car assembly plant at GM Canada's sprawling complex in the industrial city of Oshawa just east of Toronto.
That plant employs about 5,400 people and may get a new vehicle to produce down the road.
"The silver lining in some of this is fortunately we've had a lot of investment in our car plant that's just up the street," said Stew Low, the director of communications for General Motors Canada, this country's largest carmaker.
"It's a tough, tough day for the truck plant here, but on the other side of it there hold's out some hope for more jobs in the car plant."
And many of those leaving their shift Tuesday afternoon were clinging to that hope that they would still be receiving a GM paycheque in a year's time.
It will all come down to seniority, said Scott Orpwood, who has worked at GM for more than 29 years. He predicted nothing less than 25 years seniority could translate into a job at the car plant.
A lot has changed during his time in the auto sector, he said.
"You started 25 years ago you had it made in the shade - now you're lucky to have a job."
For those who don't land a job at the car plant, Premier Dalton McGuinty said help would be coming from the province in the form of skills training.
"In the days to come I'll have more to say about our new initiatives to help re-train laid off workers get new skills for new careers," he said, adding there were more ways the province wants to help auto workers.
"When I asked a CAW worker how I can best help him, he said, 'Keep fighting for our industry in Ontario.' And we intend to do exactly that."
As the deputy mayor of Oshawa, Brian Nicholson has seen the direct impact ups and downs in the sector can have.
While Oshawa's economy is diverse enough to withstand such a blow, it's still a blow nonetheless, he said.
"The manufacturing sector is the backbone of our Ontario economy and we need to make these jobs come back to this province," Nicholson said.
"It's disastrous for those that are directly affected...You go from having a very well-paying job with a lot of security to literally no security and no job."
[ 2008-06-03 ]
Do you have you a bad boss?
