Shots Fired: GM Sics Lawyers on Autoworkers Union Over 'Misleading' Ad

There’s no love lost between General Motors and Canadian Detroit Three autoworkers union Unifor. The former plans to shutter the historic Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario this year, the latter would prefer it didn’t. It would also prefer some product to build there.

Amid the turmoil surrounding GM’s wide-ranging cost-cutting efforts, Unifor released a commercial Sunday slamming GM for abandoning both its workforce and consumers. The title of the ad? “GM leaves Canadians Out In the Cold.”

GM’s message to Unifor? Cool it.

In the ad, aired during the Super Bowl simulcast and on various other mediums, Unifor talks up the multi-billion dollar 2009 bailout, stating that GM Canada’s continued existence is only due to the $300 it took from every Canadian. Meanwhile, the ad continues, GM is expanding production in Mexico — “A move that’s as un-Canadian as the vehicles they now want to sell us.”

The spot ends with a verbal and written statement: “You may have forgotten out generosity, but we’ll never forget your greed.”

Unifor’s prickly ad comes on the heels of a boycott campaign designed to reduce sales of Mexican-made GM vehicles in Canada, with the new Chevrolet Blazer (a vehicle Unifor president Jerry Dias wanted for Oshawa) being top of mind.

In a statement posted Sunday, Dias said GM made attempts to stop the airing of the ad, claiming, “Clearly General Motors doesn’t want Canadians to see this ad. To see its actions and the damage that GM plans to inflict on workers, communities and our national economy if it closes Oshawa.”

“We stand by the belief that if GM wants to sell here then it needs to build here and we will not be intimidated from sharing that message with Canadians in this ad.”

GM Canada confirmed the legal subtext of Dias’ statement in a release of its own, issued the same day:

While GM respects Unifor’s rights to protest, we cannot condone purposely misleading the Canadian public. The new Unifor advertisement scheduled to air during the Super Bowl is misleading and inaccurate. In response, GM can confirm its lawyers lodged a formal demand to Unifor to cease any and all publication of the ad.

Unifor knows that GM Canada repaid its 2009 loans in full, and that the restructured GM fulfilled all the terms of its agreements with the Canadian government many years ago. Since 2009, GM Canada has contributed over $100 billion to the Canadian economy including $8 billion invested into worker pensions.

A decade ago, the Canadian government ponied up $13.7 million to save GM and Chrysler, with some of the funds used to wind down the old companies; other cash was used to create new entities for the two automakers. As of 2017, the country still had $1.2 billion in bailout era auto sector loans on its books, with Chrysler believed to be responsible for most or all of the sum.

[Image: Unifor/ YouTube]