Temporary layoffs for 1,200 GM Oshawa workers as U.S. strike continues

About 1,200 General Motors employees at the company’s assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont., have been temporarily laid off because of a strike in the U.S., with more job cuts expected soon.

The employees, who work on the Oshawa truck line, will still receive full wages while the strike by some 48,000 GM workers in the U.S. continues.

Unifor president Jerry Dias says he expects the second line at the Oshawa plant to also be disrupted because of a lack of parts from the U.S. as early as Thursday to leave all 2,600 workers at the plant off the job.

He says he expects about two-thirds of GM’s Cami plant in Ingersoll, Ont., to shut down by early next week because of the strike, while its St. Catharines, Ont., operation could be hit by the middle of next week. Workers at those plants will still be compensated in a shut down but not as fully as the Oshawa workers.

Dias says some other operations are also issuing temporary layoffs, including a trucking company in Windsor, but that the key hit will be the GM plants.

GM workers in the U.S. walked off the job for the first time in over a decade on Monday over issues including wages, health care, and job security.