DaimlerChrysler’s decision to scrap plans for a new assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, will be devastating to Canada’s already slowing motor industry, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers union told Reuters.
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“This is a huge blow. We’re going in the wrong direction and we’re seeing plants close and production reduced. We thought this would help start to reverse a trend, and this is not going to happen,” CAW president Buzz Hargrove said, according to the news agency.
“I’m just devastated. I’m angry. I’m frustrated. It’s the last thing in the world I expected. Quite frankly I thought things were rolling along well on the project,” Hargrove reportedly added. “A lot of people were looking forward to the opportunity for 2,500 new jobs.”
Reuters noted that the Chrysler operations of DaimlerChrysler AG this week cancelled plans to build the new truck plant in Windsor, directly across the border from Detroit, citing a weakening North American new vehicle market.
However, Reuters said, independent motor industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers downplayed the effects of the Windsor cancellation.
“It’s not devastating. It’s negative that we lose upside potential, but we didn’t have these jobs to begin with, so it’s not as if an existing worker is losing his job,” DesRosiers told the news agency.
“It hurts in that we lose upside potential, not that we’re losing existing jobs,” he reportedly added.
