Sure, the Chevrolet Impala and Buick LaCrosse are not the most exciting models in GM's lineup, but the Oshawa, Ontario plant that's been cranking out well-assembled W-platform vehicles for years has won a rare honor from J.D. Power and Associates. Power's Founder's Award is reserved for people or corporations that J.D and friends feel are uncommonly dedicated to continual improvement for customers. Oshawa has racked up plenty of Gold and Silver plant awards, and J.D. Power's senior VP for US automotive practice, Gary Dilts, was on hand to present the award to plant manager Dan Hermer and Chris Buckley, president of CAW local 222. It's a scarce bit of positive news about a domestic automaker, and the fact that the plant has demonstrated such a drive to turn out high quality products bodes well for the Camaro, which is set to start rolling out of the Oshawa complex soon.
Fresh from the news that Ford would be investing cash into its Canadian facilities, our friends north of the border got even more good news, this time from GM. The General is investing $290 million in all, including $245 million at its St. Catharines plant, which will make six-speed transmissions. The move will ensure the employment of the 300 workers at the facility. GM also plans to invest $40 million for environmental research at its Canadian engineering center in Oshawa. GM also announced that it would be building a hybrid vehicle at its Oshawa car plant at an undisclosed future date. The Canadian government is showing its gratitude by not requiring early payment for $200 million in loans that is owed by the General. The loan was triggered early when GM announced the closure of its Oshawa truck plant, meaning the General wouldn't meet minimal employment targets.
In a deal designed to assuage the tensions between General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union, GM's new car plant in Oshawa, Ontario will gain two additional models to build. The old truck plant in the same city, though, will still close sometime in 2009. Until then, the truck plant will continue to assemble hybrid versions of GM's full-size pickup trucks. The new Oshawa plant will begin building GM's long-anticipated Camaro revival and will also get some Chevrolet Impala production and an unnamed Buick model at some point in the future.
In addition to the extra work at the brand new Oshawa plant, displaced workers with at least 26 years of GM employment will get a percentage of their yearly salary, even after the plant has closed, until they have reached the necessary 30-year mark for retirement. Other qualifying ex-employees will get buyout packages of some sort.
GM's Oshawa Truck plant has been slated for closure in 2009, but GM has announced that the embattled plant will still build the Silverado Two-Mode hybrid beginning later this year. The move was well received by the CAW, which hasn't exactly been playing nice with the General since it got word of the plant's closure. The CAW threw up a blockade of GM's Canadian headquarters from June 4-15 in response to the General's announcement that it would close the facility. There has been some talk about perhaps switching the plant to car production, but GM has made no announcements and CEO Rick Wagoner didn't sound too optimistic about the plant's future when he announced the closing. At least the hybrid Silverado will help ensure that the plant has steady production for the near-term, but it'll likely have to be a lot more popular than the Tahoe hybrid if it's going to help Oshawa Truck stay open.
The Canadian Auto Workers union and General Motors have been less than friendly with one another since the automaker announced it would be closing its Oshawa Truck plant, and the union promises to "fight on" despite ending a 13-day protest/blockade that prevented some 900 GM employees from going to work at the company's Canadian headquarters. It took a court injunction to end the blockade, but union representatives say they are planning their next move to stop GM from closing Oshawa Truck, which employs around 2,600 workers. But with truck sales tanking on account of high gas prices and less new home construction in the U.S., it seems unlikely the General will change its mind to scuttle the plant. There is talk of converting it to produce passenger cars in the near future, but even if the decision were made to do so today, the plant would still be closed for one to two years before it reopened. For now, however, GM's white collar workers in Canada can get back to work without enduring the rank and file gauntlet.
Despite rising tensions (and a lawsuit) between General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union, the automaker may be interested in adding a new car line at its soon-to-closed truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario. Though that plant was originally scheduled to stay open a few more years, slumping sales of full-size trucks built there have forced GM to announce its early closure along with three other pickup and SUV plants. Since that announcement, union workers have barricaded GM Canada's headquarters for the last eight days in protest, which we'd imagine might make it difficult for GM management to negotiate with union officials... but what do we know?
According to The Detroit News, however, GM has been talking with Ontario's Economic Development and Trade Minister, Sandra Pupatello, who says that the government is very interested in securing the new vehicle line as quickly as possible. Even if a decision is made in short order, it is likely the plant's 2,600 workers would be out of work for up to two years after the closes and before its ready again with new tooling for a passenger car line.
Hold on to your britches folks. General Motors dealings with the Canadian Auto Workers union just took another turn for the worse. GM, like every other full-line automaker selling vehicles in the United States, has been unable to move as many pickup trucks as it had hoped since the price of gas has spiked. In response to the shifting tide of vehicle sales and to slow the huge financial hemorrhaging, GM announced about eight days ago that it would be closing four plants that build trucks and SUVs, including one in Oshawa, Ontario. Unfortunately, the General had recently promised to keep that particular plant open for a few more years, so the announcement more than irked the Union officials from up north.
Here's where things get real ugly. In retaliation, the CAW has blockaded the entrance to the GM headquarters in Canada for the last eight days. As you might imagine, GM has a slight problem with this and has taken the matter to court, where documents reveal that the automaker wants C$250,000 from the local union and five of its members for a total of $1.5 million in damages. We're not sure if this impending lawsuit will impact the Union's plans for a rally this Thursday in the parking lot of the Oshawa headquarters, but it's probably safe to say that this situation won't have a happy ending.
The dust hasn't settled yet on General Motors' announcement that it will be closing an additional four plants, but the Canadian Auto Workers union is already foaming at the mouth. The CAW organized 30 trucks to block GM Canada's headquarters in response to the company's decision to close its Oshawa truck plant. The Oshawa plant produces the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, production of which the General has reduced sharply in response to slow sales. The Canadian union says it won't move the trucks, which is blocking all vehicular traffic, until it meets with GM officials. While the CAW is letting pedestrians on foot through the blockade, we wouldn't be surprised if bipedal passage comes accompanied by a few colorful words that would make a sailor blush.
While the CAW would never want to lose a plant under any circumstances, the rank and file are particularly angry this time because the news came only two weeks after GM promised to keep the plant open through most of 2009. GM also promised that the plant would build its next generation light-duty pickup. In the automaker's defense, GM needs to make tough decisions quickly because of this rapidly changing market, and unions don't really react as the wind blows.
Other unions affected by the four plant closings are also miffed, but none went so far as those crazy Canadians. The union at GM's Moraine, Ohio plant, for instance, expressed its displeasure with being closed and has stated publicly that it plans to fight the closings, but considering that it builds the Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7x, we'd say there isn't much hope for union workers in Moraine, OH.
Speeders caught in in a radar trap in Oshawa, Ontario this week were offered a choice of punishment. They could opt for a traditional ticket and fine, or they could listen to a lecture about the dangers of their misdeeds -- not from John Law, mind you, but from local teens participating in a program that's basically about using public shaming as a way to combat speeding.
Drivers who opted for the lecture over the fine (and seriously, who wouldn't) would then be read a one-page essay by a local teenage boy or girl. These essays feature accident stats, reminders of the potential consequences of speeding, and in some cases, anecdotes about how speeders had negatively impacted the students' lives. According to the Toronto Star, the assembled teens "jeered" speeders as they were pulled over -- as if getting pulled over isn't annoying enough to begin with.
Local police reps quoted in the article seem to love the program, claiming it's a better deterrent because people given regular tickets just pay their fines and move on. Conversely, they say that the experience of being dressed-down by an 11th-grader is something that sticks with the offender long after he or she drives away. Hey, if it works, great. After all, drivers avoid a fine but still have to deal with the inconvenience of a traffic stop, compounded by the indignity of a lecture from some kid. Somehow, we're not surprised to learn that the use of this particular program is the exception rather than the norm. The Star reports that other police officers prefer the traditional speeding ticket's more "tangible results." Or is that "result$"?
Workers at the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario have given the automaker until this fall to confirm that additional models will be built there, or else... STRIKE! The Oshawa plant currently builds the Chevy Impala and Buick LaCrosse, and is scheduled to build the Chevy Camaro when it enters production in February of 2009, but that's it. Other rear-wheel-drive products were also promised, but because of the weak dollar and new CAFE regulations, GM is apparently rethinking whether those vehicles will be built at all.
Apparently back in 2006, the Canadian Auto Workers union agreed to concessions to reduce costs, convert to a more flexible manufacturing process and guarantee that future vehicles would be built at the plant. They're now claiming that GM wants additional concessions to secure those future vehicles, and all GM has to say is that "future products for Oshawa are in flux." According to CAW, it has until this fall to make those future product not in flux, or else the General will have another strike on its hands to deal with.
