Move sparks anxiety locally
Feb 13, 2008 - 10:16 AM
By Kim Downey
OSHAWA -- News that General Motors Corp. is offering buyouts or early retirements to all 74,000 U.S. hourly workers represented by the United Autoworkers has sparked anxiety among GM Canada autoworkers concerned about their own job security.
While no such buyout offers have been made locally, Chris Buckley of Local 222, representing GM of Canada workers in Oshawa, said the news out of GM’s Detroit head office is troubling.
“It’s another example of how the auto industry is in decline,” said Mr. Buckley who represents workers at the GM plant as well as workers at local GM-supplier plants. “It is a reason for concern.”
The sweeping deal with the UAW is intended to clear the way for GM to hire lower-cost replacements, which may help mitigate major financial losses it suffered in 2007.
Under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs with new employees who will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour.
“We are not going down that road,” Mr. Buckley said, referring to GM’s new two-tier wage system south of the border. “That’s not what is going to bring us out of this situation.”
He said the UAW agreed to it to preserve their plants but “every one of GM’s plants in North America is in trouble,” Mr. Buckley said.
GM’s global sales are down and the reason the auto giant is losing market share is because of “unfair trade” that allows imports from other countries to saturate the market while GM can’t do the same in their countries, he said.
In addition, the high Canadian dollar is also wreaking havoc, Mr. Buckley said, adding that the federal government has the tools to correct the problems but is doing nothing to help.
GM Canada director of communications Stew Low said the recent news about the buyout offers is unique to the United States.
“(GM in the U.S.) has a need to reduce their workforce,” he said. “We are not offering anything like this in Canada.”
He wouldn’t rule out a similar two-tier wage system being introduced in future bargaining talks that begin Sept. 16, the deadline in the current contract.
“That’s generally a move to help us become more cost-competitive in the United States. We have a bigger challenge in Canada,” he said, referring to the high Canadian dollar.
“That hurts our competitive position in Canada and we have escalating costs in health care and benefits. Given those facts, we have to find ways to drive down costs.”
-- with files from Torstar News Service
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