Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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 Canadian job cuts put GM aid at risk By KAREN HOWLETT AND GREG KEENANWednesday, June 8, 2005 Updated at 8:47 PM EDT From Friday's Globe and MailGeneral Motors of Canada Ltd. can trim its work force by 4,000 people or 20 per cent over the next nine years and still receive all $435-million in financial assistance pledged by the Ontario and federal governments for the auto maker's $2.5-billion investment in Canada. GM Canada's $2.5-billion Beacon Project commits the company to maintaining an average of 16,000 employees over the next nine years, said an official in Ontario Economic Development Minister Joe Cordiano's office. That compares with the company's current level of about 20,000 employees, most of whom work in Ontario. The governments will ask GM Canada to give the money back if the company doesn't meet the requirements, Mr. Cordiano said Wednesday. “If they don't meet their commitments by way of our Beacon Project contract, we will claw back any funds that won't meet those commitments,” he told reporters. The auto maker's commitment to a minimum number of jobs came to light Wednesday as Mr. Cordiano and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty were quizzed on how a major restructuring plan announced by General Motors Corp. will affect the company's assembly and parts operations in the Ontario cities of Oshawa, St. Catharines and Windsor — a major engine of the province's economy. GM announced plans to shut plants in North America and slash 25,000 jobs between now and 2008 as it faces declining market share, soaring health care costs and large financial losses this year. In announcing the plan at the GM annual meeting, chairman Rick Wagoner referred only to U.S. plants. But he told reporters after the annual meeting that Canada is also involved, Automotive News reported on its website Wednesday. Canadian Auto Workers union leaders and industry analysts pinpointed a components plant with 1,570 employees in St. Catharines, Ont., as being most in danger of closing as part of the restructuring, but they also expressed fears about a transmission plant and another 1,600 jobs in Windsor, Ont. CAW economist Jim Stanford said Wednesday that the union has never been told what promise GM Canada made on employment numbers here in return for the government money. “Committing them to keep 16,000 [people] is a fairly aggressive commitment,” Mr. Stanford said. He noted that CAW membership sat at 20,000 at GM Canada in 1999 and it's about 17,000 now. During that time, the auto maker closed an assembly plant in Quebec, shed thousands of workers in St. Catharines and added a third shift at one of its Oshawa car assembly plants. Mr. Cordiano said the federal and provincial governments signed the Beacon deal with GM Canada to ensure that job numbers in the auto sector will be maintained. “It's a very good thing we have the Beacon Project in Canada in the face of what's going on south of the border because that will guarantee that GM will be in Canada for at least the next 10 years,” he said. As part of the project, GM will create about 500 new jobs, including 400 at its joint venture assembly plant, Cami Automotive Inc., in Ingersoll, Ont., which will receive $500-million of the $2.5-billion investment. Eight universities will receive money and several of them will create research chairs designed to train automotive engineers. “It is full speed ahead” on Beacon, GM Canada spokesman Stew Low said Wednesday. “We're moving ahead, particularly with things like the innovation network,” Mr. Low said. It's too early, he said, to speculate on the ultimate impact Tuesday's restructuring announcement might have on the program, but taxpayers are well protected by the agreements the governments made. Mr. Cordiano said some of GM's most productive operations are in Canada, mainly the Oshawa, Ont., assembly complex that turns out full-size pickup trucks and mid-size sedans. “We have the crown jewel in GM's stable of plants,” he said. “Workers there are the most productive in North America.... When GM looks at making things more efficient, they're going to be looking at Ontario to lead the way.” | ||||||
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