GM Closes Oshawa Plant And People Are Pissed
GM confirmed today that, as rumours indicated, it will close its auto manufacturing operations in Oshawa, Ontario. As stated in a release by GM, all new products will be unallocated for the plant in 2019.
Oshawa has been the home of the auto industry in Canada for over a century. Since 1907, many generations of families living in and around “Canada’s Motor City” have worked in the facility.
With the announcement that roughly 2,800 people will be losing their jobs, people have taken to social media to express their frustrations over the GM closure and other related issues.
UPDATED: GM closing all operations in Oshawa, Ont.: sources https://t.co/tnLsG5uOjT
— CTV News (@CTVNews) November 26, 2018
In 2008, amidst the greatest financial meltdown in the modern era that we have seen, the Canadian taxpayer propped up the slumping company with massive bailouts.
People are now pissed and rightly so. Canada has stood by some of these auto makers for decades and given them hard earned Canadian tax dollars when the same companies have been struggling.
For those wondering: in the past decade, the Canadian government gave General Motors about $14 billion, and the U.S. government gave them about $50 billion. #cdnpoli #USpolitics
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) November 26, 2018
Victoria Cross, Facebook user, said she is “sick with the GM news for working people and their families on both sides of the border — and around the world.”
John Shields, another Facebook user, posted his grievance, writing, “Our governments have bailed them out, our workers have taken concession after concession and yet here we are again. The time for action is now, we can sit around and talk about how devastating this news is, we can talk about retirement packages and retraining for workers not eligible for retirement. I say do not go down without a fight. If you care about something, if you think something is important, Fight For It! 🥊”
Twitter user, Dean Blundell tweeted his displeasure with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, tweeting, “Great work by Trudeau selling out Canadians and their families.”
Just brutal news for GM workers in Oshawa. 3000 employees and their families are out of work affecting 10s or thousands. Great work by Trudeau selling out Canadians and their families.
— Dean Blundell (@ItsDeanBlundell) November 26, 2018
Facebook user Pat Clark is devastated by the news coming out of Oshawa. Pat also offers some optimistic solutions to the problem, writing, “So many countries manufacture cars, even small countries. Italy, Yugoslavia, Korea, France, Sweden, Germany and the list goes on… Why does Canada not manufacture a Canadian automobile? We have the natural resources. We have the brain power and we have the labour.
I would suggest that we take over the GM plant in Oshawa and design and build our own cars. We would save a city and put it’s citizens back to work and benefit economically from the sales. A win/win situation.”
Adrian Ghobrial, of City TV, is reporting that some GM workers walked off the job and have “created blockades at multiple entrances/exits around the GM plant.”
GM workers in Oshawa who’ve walked walked off the job this hour have created blockades at multiple entrances/exits around the GM plant. Employee Billy Kudia tells @CityNews “enough is enough… we have to send a message” pic.twitter.com/M7BPycd7gJ
— Adrian Ghobrial (@CityAdrian) November 26, 2018
Facebook user Carole Portelance also points out the bailout money the auto maufacturer has received from Canadian taxpayers, writing, “This is depressing and sickening news. Especially in light of the billions in bailout money to GM from the federal and provincial governments 10 years ago. What – was this just not enough to secure jobs in the long run (and not just for 10 years)??
With any hope, the situation can be resolved positively but at this stage it is doubtful. What are your feelings?
