General Motors is cutting one of three shifts at its Oshawa Assembly Plant, which employs around 3,000 workers, due to U.S. tariffs, the company and the union representing workers confirmed on Friday.
The plant is moving from a three shift to a two shift operation starting this fall, according to a news release from Unifor, which represents workers there.
“We will not allow GM to barter Canadian jobs to gain Donald Trump’s favour,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne in the statement.
“Cutting the third shift at Oshawa Assembly is a reckless decision that deals a direct blow to our members and threatens to ripple through the entire auto parts supplier network.”
The cuts come as workers in Oshawa’s auto industry have been bracing for the impact of U.S. tariffs on their livelihoods. President Donald Trump slapped a 25 per cent tariff on all vehicle imports to the U.S. last month.
GM’s Oshawa plant “will return to a two-shift operation in light of forecasted demand and the evolving trade environment,” spokesperson Jennifer Wright said in an email to CBC Toronto on Friday.
“These changes will help support a sustainable manufacturing footprint as GM reorients the Oshawa plant to build more trucks in Canada for Canadian customers,” she said.
Wright said the company “will work with our partners to support employees through the transition.”
The Oshawa plant assembles light and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado pick-up trucks for the North American market, which are also assembled at factories in the U.S. and Mexico, Unifor said.
Premature move, union president says
Payne said General Motors jumped the gun by announcing shift cuts before Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump began talks on a new economic deal, calling the move “premature and disrespectful.”
Carney is set to address Canadians about his plans for governing at 11 a.m. Friday, which you’ll be able to watch live on CBC News.
He’s expected to meet with Trump in the coming weeks.
Automobile parts that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) on trade are exempt from the 25 per cent tariff, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection guidance announced on Thursday.
But Payne said the new guidance “changes nothing” for the Canadian auto industry.
“It is solely designed to keep U.S. factories running, because they rely heavily on Canadian made auto parts, while continuing to harm Canada’s auto assembly plants,” she said.
Close to 98 per cent of workers at the Oshawa plant were either laid off or went into retirement after GM closed the plant in 2019. Vehicle production resumed in late 2021.
“GM Oshawa was reopened thanks to the hard work of our members and significant investments by the federal and provincial governments based on a promise to maintain good jobs and production,” said Chris Waugh, Unifor GM Oshawa Assembly Plant Chairperson, in Friday’s news release.
“We will not sit idly by as that promise is eroded one shift at a time.”