No More Mr. Nice Guy, Says Canadian Detroit Three Union Boss on Strike Chances
President for the union representing Detroit Three autoworkers north of the border says he has learned from past contract battles, and won’t make the same mistake this time.
Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, promises that no contract deal will be ratified without firm product commitments, including at General Motors’ endangered Oshawa assembly plant. If GM intends to shut that operation down, a Canada-wide strike is virtually guaranteed.
Yesterday, Canadian autoworkers voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike action against the Detroit Three automakers “if a fair and reasonable settlement is not reached before the September 19th deadline.”
The slow bleed of products away from Canada, GM especially, has Unifor drawing a line in the sand.
Speaking to GMInsideNews, Dias said, “Four years ago we ratified without striking and they took the Camaro away from Oshawa, three years before that we ratified without striking and they took the truck plant away.”
The loss of the Camaro to Michigan killed 1,000 jobs in Oshawa, and the closure of the truck plant in the depths of the recession saw another 2,500 jobs leave. Now, Unifor faces the potential loss of all GM assembly operations in that city as product dries up.
“Every time we ratify without striking they have taken product away,” Dias said. “I’m not going to play nice in the sandbox this time while they close another one of our assembly plants.”
Next week will see the union decide which automaker offers the best plan before heading into the final stretch of negotiations.
More by Steph Willems
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@ 28...Yes indeed . they will extend the contract. I just can't see GM being picked as target. FCA , and Ford, seem more likely? IMHO, yes , of course they're looking for gov't intervention.. Why not ? Its not as if every other, state, province , or municipal gov't , Japanese, German, American, Canadian , French, all, have not subsidized/bailed out, the Auto, and every other major industry. Is such intervention right? Well, thats a matter of great debate. My guess, and its only a guess ? After FCA, and Ford have settled, and then after a lot of gnashing of teeth, and brinkmanship GM and Unifor, and the two levels of government, will settle. The "consolidated line" is gone." Thats a given .Flex" will pick up some sort of SUV.. This situation is ever fluid. Anything,and I mean anything , is possible.
Maybe the little parasite monkey could start its own car company and compete.
This puts GM management in an enviable position. They've got little reason to remain in Canada. The costs are high, the regulations are onerous, the currency isn't as relentlessly diluted as the USD or Yuan, the union is run by delusional time travelers, and their products aren't particularly popular. Pulling out could collapse their Canadian market share, which is about the only downside. Now, the union is offering to take that risk off the table by greatly hindering the production of their two biggest competitors in the US market, ensuring that they can grow their US market share to more than make up for the loss of Canadian sales. Thanks Jerry!
Do people up north really car where their cars are made, most folks down here in the US do not, If GM closed their plant would the regular Joe not buy a GM car, I get it would put a big hurt in the GTA area and maybe their marketshare would take a hit there, and that is a maybe but would folks across Canada buy a Ford truck instead of a GM truck? I hope they can cut a deal that works for everyone and the jobs are saved but not sure I am buying if GM closes the plant their marketshare will be wiped out.