This news comes as General Motors announced it will not be filing for bankruptcy but rather plans to slash jobs across the
United States and Canada in an effort to turn any prospects for profitability around.
"The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced at a press conference on Monday. "But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible."
A total of nine assembly, stamping and power train facilities and three Service and Parts Operations facilities will cease operations, cutting 30,000 jobs across the two countries. Here at home, GM will be closing plants in Oshawa and St. Catharines, Ontario, taking 3,900 jobs with them.
This will reduce GM's assembly capacity by about 1 million units per annum by the end of 2008, in addition to the previously implemented reduction of 1 million units between 2002 and 2005.
Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove told CTV that the cuts were "devastating."
"This highlights again the very serious and ongoing crisis that we have in the automotive industry in North America," Hargrove warned. "This is not the end; there will be more to come."
But there might be help coming on the horizon for Ontario workers facing cuts, in the form of government intervention. "The Prime Minister of the country is interested and this is not just a union issue or a worker issue," Hargrove told Reuters. "The prime minister of the country understands the importance of it and he assured me he is going to help."
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| General Motors announced it will not be filing for bankruptcy but rather plans to slash jobs across the United States and Canada in an effort to turn any prospects for profitability around. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
"The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work," GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced at a press conference on Monday. "But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible."
A total of nine assembly, stamping and power train facilities and three Service and Parts Operations facilities will cease operations, cutting 30,000 jobs across the two countries. Here at home, GM will be closing plants in Oshawa and St. Catharines, Ontario, taking 3,900 jobs with them.
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| "This highlights again the very serious and ongoing crisis that we have in the automotive industry in North America," warned Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove. "This is not the end; there will be more to come." (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
Canadian Auto Workers President Buzz Hargrove told CTV that the cuts were "devastating."
"This highlights again the very serious and ongoing crisis that we have in the automotive industry in North America," Hargrove warned. "This is not the end; there will be more to come."
But there might be help coming on the horizon for Ontario workers facing cuts, in the form of government intervention. "The Prime Minister of the country is interested and this is not just a union issue or a worker issue," Hargrove told Reuters. "The prime minister of the country understands the importance of it and he assured me he is going to help."