G.M. and Union Avoid Strike by 3,900 Canadian Workers
Source: NY Times
By IAN AUSTEN
General Motors and a union narrowly averted a strike by 3,900 Canadian workers on Tuesday in a deal that the union hopes could serve as a model for preserving dwindling auto jobs in Canada.
Under a tentative pact reached as a midnight Monday deadline expired, G.M. will close one of two assembly lines at its Oshawa, Ontario, plant, its largest in Canada, according to Jerry Dias, the leader of Canadas Unifor, the countrys largest private sector union.
But the automaker agreed to rebuild another assembly line there to produce cars and trucks simultaneously, Mr. Dias said. As a result, he said, total employment will increase in Oshawa, which currently has about 5,700 total workers, including engineering and other nonunion employees.
And in a provision that bucks a recent trend in which the auto industry moves jobs out of Canada, Mr. Dias said the automaker also had agreed to move production of one engine from Mexico to another Ontario plant.
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A production lot at the Oshawa, Ontario, General Motors plant. Credit Chris Young for The New York Times
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