Canada: General Motor in Ontario plans to lay off 625 workers

The union officials said this demonstrates why NAFTA had been a bad deal for the Canadian automotive industry as jobs have migrated to lower-cost jurisdictions such as Mexico.

The layoffs will take effect in July at the CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., which employs 2,800 Unifor workers, builds the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain, CTV News Toronto reports said.

“This decision reeks of corporate greed. It is not based on sales, it is an another example of how good jobs are being shifted out of Canada for cheaper labour in Mexico and Unifor will not let it happen without a fight,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

“The Equinox and Terrain are incredibly successful vehicles and given current market demand, there is no justification for lay-offs at the CAMI facility,” the media release said.

A GM Canada spokeswoman said the cuts Friday related to the changeover of production from older model Equinoxes to the next-generation Equinox.

GM Canada said it gave Unifor advance notice how this product changeovers would affect workers at three Ontario plants, adding it will continue to negotiate with the union for adjustment.

U.S. President Donald Trump also said that he planned to revise NAFTA and admitted it was the worst trade deal the U.S. has ever signed.

Canada’s automotive industry would be hit hard particularly if a border tax is implemented on Canadian goods.

There were 141,000 people employed in Canada's automotive sector, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

Due to some roles becoming automated others being moved to Mexico where labour costs are cheap, roughly 60,000 fewer people were employed in the sector compared to a decade ago.

Canada had once shown a surplus on its automotive trade with the rest of the world but now showed a widening deficit.

Before 2006, Canada's auto sector had an annual trade surplus of around $10 billion. But the fourth quarter of 2016 showed the sector had a net deficit of $25.6 billion, according to the Conference Board.

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association believed that If Trump succeeded in bringing more automotive jobs back to Detroit, that would create more opportunities for Canadian auto parts supplier.

But Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants, is less optimistic about how Trump's trade policy could impact the auto sector due to the way automotive industries in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are integrated.

DesRosiers believed that a tax on Mexican imports would significantly increase the cost of all North American vehicles.

Brad Duguid, Ontario's economic development minister, also felt there were both risks and opportunities for Ontario with regards to a renegotiation of NAFTA.

Unifor Local 88 spokesman Mike Van Boekel said the layoffs will primarily affect young workers. The news had taken its toll on morale, and employees.

After previously suggesting the Liberal government shouldn't have been so quick to agree to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose said Friday that the deal could be improved through talks.

While concerned about the job losses, Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said Friday that the government remains "optimistic about the strength and future of Canada's automotive industry, CBCNews reports said."

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

(Image of GM Headquarters in Detroit: Wikipedia)