As GM layoffs mount, more nationalist poison from Canadian auto workers union

The announcement comes on the heels of a decision taken earlier this month by the company to permanently shutter the truck plant and let go 2,600 workers sometime in the latter half of 2009. The closure decision was taken by corporate executives despite supposed assurances given to Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union that new hybrid product lines would be allocated to the plant in exchange for the massive concessions the union agreed to in the newly negotiated master contract agreement.

When GM cited a standard loophole clause in the deal that tied production to market conditions, the CAW leaderships policy of trading concessions for job security was exposed as a fraud.

Historically the CAW pointed to certain cost advantages for the auto companiesincluding a favourable exchange rate with the US dollar and a government-paid health care benefitsto argue that layoffs be carried out in the US, Mexico and other countries, rather than Canada. The sharp decline of the dollar, the collapse of sales of gas-guzzling SUVs and pick-ups and the financial instability of the Big Three US auto makers have all undermined the nationalist policy of the CAW.

In order to provide an avenue for the angered membership to blow off steam and move the spotlight away from its own abysmal failings, the union organized several publicity stunts, including a protest in front of GMs national headquarters building and a plea to the big business parties in the federal parliament to resurrect the principles contained in the former Canada-US Auto Pact, which required auto makers to produce one vehicle in Canada for each vehicle they sold there.

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