Thousands rally against GM corporate greed

WINDSOR, ON, Jan. 11, 2019 /CNW/ - Thousands rallied against General Motors (GM) blatant corporate greed today as the automaker held an investor event on its future plans, which include abandoning workers at the Oshawa Assembly Plant.

"Thousands of us stood today to oppose GM's callous decision to devastate workers and their families, the community of Oshawa and the Canadian economy ? not because they have to but because they choose to," said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. "General Motors has gone too far. The investors need to understand the terrible consequences of what GM is doing on their behalf."

More than two thousand people attended the Windsor rally, held directly across the border from GM's headquarters in Detroit, to protest GM's expansion into Mexico while the company pulls manufacturing and jobs from Canada and the U.S.

GM announced that it intends to close Oshawa Assembly at the end of the year, even though it concedes that it would not hurt its bottom line to maintain the plant. Four American facilities were also targeted for closure. GM was the top selling manufacturer in both Canada and the U.S. last year, raking in $6 billion in profits during the first nine months of 2018, up four-and-a-half times from the previous year.

"I understand that everyone wants a fair return on their investment but people and institutional investors have a choice to make," said Dias. "Can they sleep at night knowing they back a corporation that is trampling over their fellow Canadians and Americans to rake in excessive profit by paying exploitive wages of $2 bucks an hour in Mexico?" 

GM enters 2019 as the largest auto manufacturer in Mexico, even though that country did not contribute a dime to the 2008 bailout.

After receiving almost $11 billion in bailout money from Canada, Unifor today called for immediate meetings with GM CEO Mary Barra and the Ontario and Federal governments to press GM to reverse its decision.

For more information on the #SaveOshawaGM campaign visit SaveOshawaGM.ca

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing more than 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

SOURCE Unifor