Some 700 workers at the General Motors (GM) assembly plant in Oshawa will be directly impacted by the U.S.-based corporation’s decision to cut work shifts down to two from this fall.
Another 50 or so ancillary workers will also be affected, according to Jeff Gray, President of Unifor Local 222, which represents GM workers in Oshawa.
The plant reportedly employs about 3,000 workers.
This is a stress workers do not want after the union had negotiated a good deal with benefits, Gray told CBC while pointing out that the impacted workers still have bills, mortgage and car payments to be made.
He said the union was not okay with GM transferring the shift to America.
He had hopes from the planned visit of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump next week.
It is a big job for Carney. We are very interested to see the results of that meeting, and look forward to hear from Prime Minister Carney when he comes back, said Gray.