The Canadian Auto Workers union is fighting to keep three Canadian vehicle assembly
plants from closing, but it faces an uphill battle because of a steep decline
in the Big Three’s sales and market share in North America, writes Greg Keenan.
The three plants are a General Motors Corp. facility in Ste. Therese, Quebec,
a DaimlerChrysler Corp. operation in Windsor, Ontario, and a Ford Motor Co.
factory in Oakville, Ontario. They represent about 3,500 of Canada’s approximately
50,000 assembly jobs.
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Of the three, the GM plant is in the most danger. It has been operating on
just one shift cranking out Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebirds for several
years and GM is discontinuing those models in less than a year. No new product
has been earmarked for the facility.
CAW president Buzz Hargrove said he’s most worried about Ste. Therese because
it is the first plant whose vehicle is slated to disappear.
Hargrove met in June with GM president Rick Wagoner and General Motors of Canada
Ltd. president Maureen Kempston-Darkes and insists the auto maker is committed
to finding a new product for it.
“We’re continuing to talk,” Hargrove said.
Officials from the provincial government in Quebec and the federal government
recently met with senior executives from GM and were told that producing parts
might be the way to save Ste. Therese.
The other plant that’s high on the endangered list is Pillette Road in Windsor,
Ontario, where DaimlerChrysler recently eliminated one shift and cut production
of the full-sized vans assembled there.
Ken Lewenza, who heads local [branch] 444 of the CAW in Windsor said the plant
is scheduled to close in July, 2003, but union officials keep badgering the
company to find a new product.
Even Lewenza, however, recognises that the auto maker’s US market position
for the first eight months of the year shows it has little need for the production
capacity.
Sales of DaimlerChrysler’s Dodge and Chrysler brands fell 11 percent in the
first eight months of the year to 1,695,000 vehicles from 1,893,000 a year earlier.
That drop of 200,000 is almost the equivalent of a two-shift assembly plant.
It’s a similar situation for GM and Ford, which have also seen their sales
in both Canada and the US slide this year.
Sales in the two countries for the Big Three combined fell by 819,000 vehicles
in the first eight months of the year – down to 8,171,661 from 8,990,870.
That represents more than three assembly plants at the standard annual production
capacity of about 250,000 vehicles.
The other Canadian plant that may be in jeopardy is Ford’s full-sized pickup
truck operation in Oakville, which is also a one-shift operation and is not
on the list of plants that will produce the next generation of the flagship
F-series pickup.
Dave Tremblay, who heads local 707 of the CAW, bristles when the subject arises.
“The company hasn’t told us that that plant’s at risk,” he said.
Nonetheless, the union is concerned and is seeking a meeting with a senior
Ford vice-president to point out the advantages of assembling vehicles in Canada
– cheaper health care costs, better productivity and much lower wages when
the exchange rate is taken into account.
“It’s still a lot cheaper to insure an employee in Oakville than an employee
in Dearborn,” Tremblay points out.
“If they’re looking for profits, the place to be is in Ontario and in Oakville,”
he said.
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