DETROIT -- Canada's Unifor union slammed General Motors executives in print ads over the Oshawa plant idling just hours before the union was set to meet GM officials Thursday at the Renaissance Center in Detroit.
The union's four full-page ads in The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, including the covers, accuse GM executives of a lack of support toward Canadian and U.S. plant workers for their decision in November to potentially close Oshawa Assembly and four plants in the U.S.
The potential closures are part of a larger corporate restructuring plan. The Canadian plant builds the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS sedans, both of which GM plans to eliminate from its North American lineup.
One of the full-page ads illustrates the union's frustration toward the automaker's executives, with a bold headline that says, "U.S. and Canadian workers made GM," that follows with the question, "Why should our jobs and our products go to Mexico? Keep our plants open." However, no such ads can be found in the Toronto Star or the Windsor Star, both reputable Canadian newspapers.
"The GM restructuring decisions are extremely difficult for all of us in Oshawa, but we believe the best approach is to work together to support our employees including support for local training and transition initiatives in the Durham Region," GM said in an emailed statement on Thursday. "We remain strongly committed to Canada and will continue to engage in dialogue with Unifor."
GM confirmed senior executives are meeting with Unifor, but declined to provide details about the meeting.
Unifor President Jerry Dias said the ads were about sending a message to GM ahead of today’s meeting.
“GM needs to know that we are not accepting their announcement,” Dias said. “It is crystal clear to myself and the leadership of the union that GM is leaving Canada. The newspaper ads are to let them know we are dead serious.”
The union plans on advertising against the union from “coast-to-coast” in both Canada and the U.S., Dias said. He said the countries “have a lot in common,” pointing to federal bailouts both nations gave the automaker a decade ago and manufacturing jobs that have left the counties.
Through its aggressive ad campaign, Unifor wants to show GM that it will have “a real problem” selling new vehicles to consumers on either side of the border in 2019, Dias said.
“GM has betrayed consumers in Canada and the United States,” he said. “People are finally saying to GM, ‘You have gone too far.’ This is going on on both sides of the border.”
He said Unifor has been in contact with the UAW as it has planned its response to GM, and leaders from the unions are set to meet early in the new year.
