The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike affecting 80 General Motors facilities in the US began spilling over the border into Canada almost immediately and could lead to as many as 100,000 layoffs in the Canadian auto sector and other parts of the economy by the end of the week, Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove said last night, writes just-auto’s Canadian correspondent.
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GM’s transmission plant in Windsor, Ontario, just across the Detroit River from GM’s headquarters in the Renaissance Centre, was shut down Monday afternoon, putting about 1,400 workers on furlough.
One car plant in Oshawa, Ontario, was scheduled to be shut down early this morning (25 September) and the other one by midday (Canadian EDT) because they depend on engines shipped from Buffalo, New York. Oshawa is home to several of GM’s large-vehicle lines including the popular Chevrolet Impala, the automaker’s top-selling car line.
A pickup truck plant – also in Oshawa – has enough parts for three days of production, but will be shut by the end of the week, Hargrove said.
A total shut-down of GM Canada would cause about 17,000 layoffs, but a large chunk of the approximately $US30bn in business enjoyed by Canadian parts makers goes to GM operations in both countries so shutdowns at GM Canada plants will cascade through the supply chain.
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By GlobalDataLear, for example has three Canadian plants that supply seats to GM on both sides of the border.
Auto parts giant Magna International, based just north of Toronto, has dozens of factories in Ontario province that produce parts for GM. That includes one of its biggest operations — a metal stamping plant that produces the frames (chassis) for all of GM’s large pickups and large sport utility vehicles.
Hargrove will be facing his own negotiations with GM by this time next year.
But the US strike and whatever the result is will not be an issue for the CAW, he maintained.
“Our biggest concern today is the unfair trade with Japan and Korea and the European Community where they build in their market sell in their market, build in their market and ship into our market,” he said.
Those imports are at the root of the crisis now being faced by GM and its Detroit rivals.
Canadian auto industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers is less gloomy than Hargrove about the potential impact in Canada, but nonetheless forecast that up to 50,000 people could be temporarily out of work.
