Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2007 11:54:50 GMT -5
TORONTO - General Motors shut down one of its Canadian car assembly plants overnight and another looked set to close later Tuesday as the impact of the strike against the automaker in the United States reverberated north of border.
GM Canada shut down the No. 1 car assembly plant at its complex in Oshawa, east of Toronto, at 3 a.m. EDT. The lack of key major components from the United States would close the No. 2 car plant at the end of the day shift, idling a total of about 5,600 people, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove said.
The Oshawa pickup-truck plant, with about 4,000 employees, is "good until Thursday," Hargrove said. But GM's transmission plant in Windsor, employing 1,300 workers, closed Monday shortly after the U.S. strike began, and a 3,200-employee power-train plant in St. Catharines, Ont., looked set to be idle by the end of the week.
Hargrove had warned Monday that 80,000 to 100,000 Canadians, mostly in Ontario, could be laid off by the end of the week at GM Canada, its parts suppliers and other companies dependent on the industry.
Carlos Gomes, auto-sector economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia, said Tuesday that "certainly somewhere around the 80,000 range might be a reasonable number."
Gomes noted that there are hopes the strike by 73,000 United Auto Workers members will be brief but the UAW will still have to settle with the other two big North American carmakers, "so even if they do resolve the case with GM in the next, hopefully, few days or so, then there's still a risk that lies with the impact from the negotiations coming with both Ford and Chrysler."
A long GM strike, he said, could tip the Ontario economy into recession, although the impact on third-quarter data will be minimal because the stoppage comes late in the July-September period. "If it does go on for a while, it would certainly have a big impact going into the fourth quarter."
All three automakers ramped up production during the summer "as a precautionary measure, just in case some strike did develop," Gomes said.
"They do have some vehicles on hand . . . but production of 2008 models only started around July and August, so a lot of the supply is still 2007."
For GM, he said, "the new models are really important to them, so I think they're not interested in having a long strike."
GM Canada shut down the No. 1 car assembly plant at its complex in Oshawa, east of Toronto, at 3 a.m. EDT. The lack of key major components from the United States would close the No. 2 car plant at the end of the day shift, idling a total of about 5,600 people, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove said.
The Oshawa pickup-truck plant, with about 4,000 employees, is "good until Thursday," Hargrove said. But GM's transmission plant in Windsor, employing 1,300 workers, closed Monday shortly after the U.S. strike began, and a 3,200-employee power-train plant in St. Catharines, Ont., looked set to be idle by the end of the week.
Hargrove had warned Monday that 80,000 to 100,000 Canadians, mostly in Ontario, could be laid off by the end of the week at GM Canada, its parts suppliers and other companies dependent on the industry.
Carlos Gomes, auto-sector economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia, said Tuesday that "certainly somewhere around the 80,000 range might be a reasonable number."
Gomes noted that there are hopes the strike by 73,000 United Auto Workers members will be brief but the UAW will still have to settle with the other two big North American carmakers, "so even if they do resolve the case with GM in the next, hopefully, few days or so, then there's still a risk that lies with the impact from the negotiations coming with both Ford and Chrysler."
A long GM strike, he said, could tip the Ontario economy into recession, although the impact on third-quarter data will be minimal because the stoppage comes late in the July-September period. "If it does go on for a while, it would certainly have a big impact going into the fourth quarter."
All three automakers ramped up production during the summer "as a precautionary measure, just in case some strike did develop," Gomes said.
"They do have some vehicles on hand . . . but production of 2008 models only started around July and August, so a lot of the supply is still 2007."
For GM, he said, "the new models are really important to them, so I think they're not interested in having a long strike."