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TORONTO – Jerry Dias is fed up.
At union rallies, press conferences, wherever people could listen, the Unifor executive has been expressing deep frustration for more than two months about how General Motors has broken its promise not to have too much promised to close his badembly plant in Oshawa.
"There is no one on earth more than General Motors," Dias said in a recent interview.
"That's why we're so mad, that's why we're running this campaign and that's why we're slamming them every day."
The Super Bowl vs. GM publicity, which took place last weekend, and a call by the union for a partial GM vehicle boycott are just the latest efforts to put pressure on the company and the company. to ensure that the impending closure of the legendary plant in the eyes of the government and the public.
GM, however, showed no sign of hesitation in its decision, saying the closure was part of an effort needed to become more efficient and that she had already committed to offering programs reconversion and generous retirement.
With the two adversaries buried, the dispute is likely to drag on, Unifor seeking to protect union jobs – and its reputation – in a rapidly changing automotive sector.
"It's really understandable that Unifor is part of this project," said Steven Tufts, an badociate professor at York University, who studies the work.
"For Unifor as a union, to make them more relevant, even to members outside the auto sector, they have to show they can fight."
The union, however, is fighting against a company in decline. In 2007, General Motors was the largest car manufacturer in the world, a titan of the industry built on a century of development. However, notorious problems, including bankruptcy, salvage and efforts to straighten the ship, left the company's output at about half of its peak.
The production cuts have had a direct impact on Canadian auto workers, who have already experienced closures or layoffs in a number of establishments in Ontario over the last decade. Dias maintains that several series of cuts arrived shortly after GM's insurance that they would not come. GM declined an interview request for this story.
The fight has created additional tension for Unifor, as the proportion of unionized auto workers has declined over the past two decades, as the three in Detroit have downsized, while unorganized Toyota and Honda have increased their volume in Ontario.
"For Unifor, it's important because it's a big problem if the industry is moving from unionized to non-unionized," said Charlotte Yates, an expert on labor issues in the automotive industry. University of Guelph.
The campaign also raises questions about priorities and the union itself. Auto workers account for only about 13% of members after the mega merger between the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. Canada, which has created a group of 315,000 members, with a membership of 315,000.
"It's really for them that they are fighting for the definition of what the union is based on and where is it going in the future," Tufts said.
Dias, however, said the members understood the need to fight GM and would not expect anything less.
"The only chance you have is to roll up your sleeves and put yourself in it. And that's what we are as an organization. We are a fighting union. "
While the union is making every effort in this fight, it says governments have not followed suit. Dias congratulated Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Federal Minister of Economic Development Navdeep Bains for raising the issue with GM. However, apart from brief meetings in January with the company, both were largely silent.
"When governments do not say anything, it's almost like it's a pbadive acceptance of the company's right to make the decision," said Dias.
"They need to know that if you go out and betray Canadians, you'll have a hell of a price to pay."
According to Yates, governments in Canada have levers to influence the industry, like US President Donald Trump.
"It's not what Unifor says, it's what they say to the government, it's a vital industry and you have to fight for it," Yates said.
She said that the government's response was to express some disappointment and then move on, but that they needed to understand that jobs in the auto industry were not like the others.
As Dias has struggled to point out, each of the 2,600 unionized jobs lost in Oshawa supports between seven and 10 indirect jobs.
The closure is also part of the longer-term decline in the Canadian automotive sector, which saw production drop by nearly three million vehicles in 1999 and 17% of North American auto production to less than two million vehicles. and 12%. of production last year.
The closure of the GM plant in Oshawa will not make the industry go away and does not predict the end of GM in Canada, but it's a step further in that direction, said Yates.
"When you lose an badembly plant, you feel like you are pulling on that wire that could undo the whole sweater."
Meanwhile, Dias promised to fight until the end.
"The fight we are fighting is a fight that will continue and we will not slow down. It is not about the withdrawal of the trade union movement or its acceptance of the decisions of the raw capitalism as inevitable, "said Dias.
"From the leadership point of view, we are all present and we have always been, because losing is not an option."
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