CUPE Ontario stands strongly with the more than 2,500 General Motors (GM) workers in their fight to save their jobs in Oshawa, says the union’s president, Fred Hahn.
“GM’s decision to close their Oshawa plant is an example of corporate greed at it’s worst. Despite raking in $6 billion in profits from the work done at the plant, in only three quarters of last year, the company is abandoning its workers – it is shameful,” says Hahn.
The closing of the Oshawa plant will not only hurt the workers directly employed by the company, it will also mean the loss of thousands of additional spin-off jobs and up to $1 billion a year in tax revenue that funds the public services we all rely on.
“These workers and the town of Oshawa have given their heart and soul to GM and in return the company turned it’s back on them,” says Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer for CUPE Ontario. “We applaud all the workers taking job action on the plant floor. Big corporations like GM should not be able to get away with putting obscene profits over the workers that generated them.”
“In their last collective agreement, GM committed to a four-year deal with these workers and now they are breaking that legal commitment,” says Hahn. “When an employer refuses to adhere to their legal obligations, workers are left with nothing more to do than take job action. If GM expects this horrible decision will go unchallenged then they a they are very mistaken.”
“This is far from over,” says Rennick. “All workers need to support the fight to keep good jobs in our communities. CUPE Ontario will do all it can to support the workers in Oshawa and help in the fight to save their jobs.”
