The following story is by our Co-op Editor Saleh Waziruddin, who lives in St.Catharines, Canada.
INGERSOLL, ON - “We will physically take the plant,” said Unifor Local 88 plant chair Mike Van Boekel after GM missed a deadline from the Canadian Government to present its plan to keep the factory open.
The GM CAMI plant had 1,200 workers before a shut down earlier in April, and production was supposed to resume last month. However, instead GM said they would be pulling production, laying off all of the workers.
GM says this is because of low demand, but Unifor says it’s also Trump’s tariffs.
"The reality is that CAMI was hit from both directions by Trump as he aggressively acted to undo EV support and hit Canadian auto assembly plants with a 25 per-cent tariff," said Unifor President Lana Payne.
The GM shut down comes at the same time as Stellantis is moving production planned for Brampton to Illinois, and some of Oshawa’s GM production is being moved to Indiana, because of Trump’s tariffs. Stellantis also announced layoffs in Windsor, blaming tariffs.
Three years ago the federal and Ontario provincial governments gave half a billion dollars to GM to retool at Ingersoll so it could change production lines. Now the plant is closing - a sudden and shocking blow to many.
"It's devastating," Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie told the CBC. "There's been a lot of hard times for the employees and GM on this project, and to hear that it's going to cease production ... it's the worst-case scenario.”
Canadian unions say that they are preparing for an all-out fight to resist the shutdowns as they fear more looms on the horizon.
"If we don't push back hard against him (Trump) and against these companies, we're going to lose it all," said Unifor President Lana Payne earlier this year.
An occupation of the Ingersoll plant could inspire actions elsewhere. Workers there say they are prepared to occupy the plant if need be to keep it open.
"We have made our position with the company crystal clear: nothing comes in and nothing goes out. If they try to remove even one single thing from the plant, we are ready to take over. We are not kidding," Unifor leader Mike Van Boeckel said in a statement. "We are fighting to ensure CAMI stays open…we will do whatever it takes to protect our jobs, our members, and the future of this plant".
