May 29, 2009 - 02:44 PM

By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- Cars slowed down and honked their horns on Bloor Street Friday morning, to show support for a small group of laid-off truck drivers, protesting in front of the Mackie Moving Systems building.

Ernie Martin worked for the company for 19 years before losing his job earlier this month. Waving a sign that read "Mackie has no loyalty to employees," he said he doesn't know what he'll do now.

"I'm 62, there aren't going to be a lot of jobs out there for me, especially now that the GM truck plant is down," he said.

Officials with Teamsters Local 938, which represents the drivers, said the crisis in the automotive sector is to blame for the lay-offs.

"The company says it lost freight because of what's going on at GM," said Teamsters spokesman Rick Davies.

Longtime Mackie driver and union steward Dan Parker said their work is now being done by "owner operator" drivers with less seniority but more skills.

"The company didn't want to spend the money training us, so they got rid of us," he said. "Now we've got guys with 24 or 25 years of seniority sitting at home, while guys with one or two years seniority are doing our jobs."

Norm Mackie, one of the company owners, said close to 20 drivers lost their jobs, and confirmed the lay-offs are linked to the economic downturn and struggles at GM.

"Nobody likes doing the layoff thing, but it's reality," he said.