Unifor President Jerry Dias said the new advertising campaign is designed to get GM to change its mind about the Oshawa, Ontario plant.
In the wake of General Motors decision to shutter its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, the idea boycott to GM products is appealing to a significant number of Canadians, according to Unifor, the union that represents Canadian autoworkers.
An Ekos Research poll commissioned by Unifor found a growing number of Canadian consumers support an outright boycott of GM vehicles if the automaker does not reverse its plan to close the Oshawa assembly plant.
“The fact that Canadian consumers are willing to punish GM with a complete boycott is exactly what we have been warning the company about for weeks,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.
“A widespread GM boycott would hurt Canadian and American workers who do not deserve to be casualties of GM’s corporate greed and ongoing move of production to Mexico,” said Dias, who noted in a twitter post this week that GM has invested $3.6 billion in Mexico since 2014, while pulling back on investments in Canada.
The poll concluded that GM’s brand is at risk and closing the Oshawa plant could seriously impact sales.
Workers at GM's plant in Oshawa, Ontario, staged a sit-down strike after the company rejected plans to keep the plant open.
(Union, activists plan GM protest in front of NAIAS charity preview. Click Here for the story.)
The survey results found that 45% of Canadians support an outright GM boycott and 26% of Canadians say they would consider a GM boycott. In addition, the poll found 54% of Canadians opinion of GM has worsened because of Oshawa announcement.
The poll also found that Canadians are clearly underwhelmed by the response by both levels of government in the wake of GM’s announcement that will cost 24,000 jobs in Canada.
“Canadians expect their elected officials to fight to keep good jobs in Canada, not just accept the corporate line that it is simply a business decision while workers and the Canadian taxpayers who bailed out GM a decade ago are betrayed,” said Dias.
(Click Here for more about Oshawa workers walking out on strike.)
Unifor can confirm workers at Inteva Products in Whitby walked off the job today at 8:30 a.m. today in protest of GM’s plan to end production at Oshawa Assembly after December 2019.
The end of Unifor's television commercial has a rather pointed message.
The plant supplies car program components to 2 GM assembly plants – Oshawa and Detroit-Hamtramck. Both plants are targeted for closure as part of GM’s Nov. 26, 2018 restructuring announcement.
Unifor’s message remains clear — GM Oshawa Assembly must not close. GM can change course, and work with Unifor and government to develop a new plan that saves Oshawa GM.
(Unifor puts pressure on GM in new advertising campaign. Click Here for the story.)
Canadian purchased more than 2 million vehicles in 2018, including more than 288,000 sold by GM. Ford Motor Co. was the market leader for the second year in a row, nosing out GM. Ford, GM. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and Toyota account for more than half of all new vehicles sold in Canada.