Canadian union leaders are decrying a parts plant closure as proof of faulty trade policy.
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The Nemak Essex aluminum plant in Windsor Ontario, part of a joint venture between Ford and Alfa of Mexico, will be shuttered nearly next year, eliminating 600 jobs.
Nemak produces aluminium cylinder heads for several Ford vehicles, and partly blamed high costs for the closure.
The rising Canadian dollar and higher labour costs producing large disparities between US and Mexican plants are pummelling the local industry, along with reduced US consumer demand and imports gaining favour.
“We have to have an automotive policy and the government has to be more aggressively pursuing every opportunity,” said Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove, adding that Canada must act quickly and invest $C30m to re-open Ford’s Essex engine plant in Windsor, which was shut last autumn.
Hargrove said the news comes as a shock and “is further evidence that Canada needs to deal with the issues of unbalanced trade with Asia and Europe and the soaring Canadian dollar which are eroding the country’s auto industry.”
Joel Ceausu
