General Motors Canada - 2008 Canadian Auto Workers Bargaining

2008 Canadian Auto Workers Bargaining

In an unusual move, General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining contract on May 15, 2008, a full four months before the existing contract was due to expire. As part of the agreement, GM pledged to maintain production at the Oshawa, Ontario pickup truck plant and made other production commitments.Gm had a Pension fund in the early 1970s of over 19 billion dollars and the UAW allowed the company to use it to Purchase Hughes, EDS, and start Saturn so retirees that were retired with over 30 years in 1993 lost their Pension Cost of Living increases because of Government interference in Pension Plans 12 years prior to this Loan to an American Company?

On June 3, 2008, less than three weeks after ratification of the new contract, GM announced that, due to soaring gasoline prices and plummeting truck sales, it would close four additional truck and SUV plants, including the Plant that started in Oshawa 1923 as General Motors Truck Company of Canada Limited Oshawa pickup plant.

In response, the CAW organized a blockade of the GM of Canada headquarters in Oshawa. The blockade was ended by an Ontario Superior Court order, after 12 days. Further discussions between GM and the CAW resulted in an agreement to compensate workers at the truck plant and additional product commitments for the plant established in Oshawa in 1907 by McLaughlin Family Oshawa car assembly plant.