End of an era

On Friday, the last of the Oshawa-built Chevrolet Camaros rolled off the line. And along with it, soon enough will come the end of 1,000 jobs at the plant. While the news wasn’t unexpected – rumours of the end of production here had circulated for quite some time before the official announcement earlier this year – that doesn’t make the blow any softer.

Even though many of these jobs were cut from the factory’s workforce through incentives from General Motors – bigger retirement payouts and the like – the economic repercussions will still be felt in the community. After all, regardless of how they came to this point, this is still 1,000 people that aren’t making and spending money on a regular basis being taken out of the economic equation.

However, as cliché as it may sound, things are always darkest before dawn. South of the border, United Auto Workers (UAW) – the union representing thousands of workers in the automotive manufacturing industry – wrapped up negotiations with the big three American manufacturers. And it wasn’t a smooth measure. Negotiations between GM and UAW were, literally, concluded at the last minute before the union was set to walk out. And even then, the ratification of the deal hit a snag when skilled labourers initially voted against it.

Negotiations between UAW and Chrysler/Fiat went even worse when workers rejected the initial deal offered by the automaker. This was the first time this had happened in more than 30 years.

Now, negotiations have wrapped up, with pay increases across the board. So, what does this mean for Canadian workers?

Jerry Dias, the president of Unifor, says he knows just how important these upcoming negotiations are, saying they will decide the future of the industry in this country. It’s safe to say that Unifor is going to be fighting to keep that industry alive.

After a tough set of negotiations on the American side of the table, General Motors is going to be looking for options that will be good for the company’s bottom line. And thankfully, with a lower dollar, Canadian plants offer that.

It is now Unifor’s job to sell that vision to the automotive giant, as it’s going to be the only way to keep Oshawa Assembly running past 2017.