The strike by Unifor workers at GM's plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, is in its third week and shows no signs of ending. (Photo credit: Unifor Local 88)
The strike by workers at a General Motors assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, that has cut production of one of GM’s most popular vehicles is entering its third week with little signs of a settlement.
Last week, Unifor negotiators, including Unifor President Jerry Dias, traveled to GM Headquarters in Detroit to discuss the roadblocks preventing a new deal.
“We met with the heads of North American Manufacturing and Finance. We expressed our concerns around our outstanding issues, such as Job Security, Economics and Contract Language,” the unit said on its website.
“GM Detroit understood our issues and made a commitment to respond by late Friday afternoon. The response we received from GM late Friday did not address our issues,” according to the website.
(GM laying off more employees due to Ingersoll strike. For the story, Click Here.)
Unifor President Jerry Dias showed up on the picket line in Ingersoll last weekend to lend support for the strike, which has included a protest over GM’s decision to shift production of the GMC Terrain from Ingersoll to a plant in Mexico.
Ingersoll employees are upset over GM's move to switch GMC Terrain production from Canada to Mexico. (Photo credit: Unifor Local 88)
In a post after the strike began, Dias observed that if you want to see what a NAFTA-caused race to the bottom looks like, go to Ingersoll, Ontario.
“In that picturesque town west of Toronto, workers at the CAMI automotive plant are on strike over a reasonable proposal that their employer, General Motors of Canada, refuses to accept. – enhanced job security language,” Dias said.
(Click Here for details about Unifor’s demand for new product in Ingersoll.)
Dias said like workers across Canada, “they just want to know that their livelihoods, the stability of their communities and the prospect of a decent future for their children will not be lost to cheaper labor made available by trade deals that failed to take these needs into full consideration.
“The members of Unifor Local 88 have asked General Motors for assurance that the plant, which has won many awards for the quality of their work, will continue to be the lead producer of the top-selling Equinox for the duration of their new agreement,” he said.
Before the strike, which is now the longest at a GM plant in North America in more than two decades, the Ingersoll plant had been building about 4,000 units per week.
(To see more about the negotiations between GM and Unifor, Click Here.)
The Equinox built in Ingersoll is GM’s second most popular vehicle after the Chevrolet Silverado and was redesigned for the 2018 model year to compete more effectively with the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4 and Honda CRV.