The president of the Canadian Auto Workers says he doesn't think General Motors will close its operations in Canada, despite the fact the company is hemorrhaging cash and sales were down 49 per cent last month.
There are fears drastic measures are underway, and that the company's Ontario plants are in the crosshairs.
Some CAW members told CTV Toronto they're worried that GM might cut its Canadian operations drastically. But in an interview with CTV's Canada AM Wednesday, Ken Lewenza said he did not think it was likely, "because General Motors has done very, very well in Canada."
But Lewenza is now facing union concessions. CTV Toronto reports the speculation is that the CAW will be asked to give up $150 million in wages and benefits.
Echoing Lewenza, Premier Dalton McGuinty said it doesn't make sense for GM to bail out of Ontario.
"We will work as hard as we can to ensure that they maintain a presence here," McGuinty said. "I think we've got a pretty powerful and compelling argument to make: we've got the most productive plants, producing the most high quality products, right here in Ontario."
GM employees that spoke with CTV Toronto said that while they can't imagine the Oshawa plant will shut down, job losses and pay cuts are likely "inevitable."
"There are going to be thousands of people out of work and they'll lose their homes," retired worker Frank McCarthy told CTV Toronto. "It's just bleak."
GM workers like Muriel Dunn, who has 23 years' experience on the line, said a decade ago when she was told GM would be gone from Canada in 10 or 15 years, she "laughed at them."
"I never thought in one year what has happened, has happened to us," Dunn told CTV Toronto. "We haven't just faded, we have been decimated, we're just gone."
A full GM pullout would result in 12,000 high-paying jobs disappearing. However, up to 80,000 positions could disappear when jobs supported by auto assembly plants are counted.
Lewenza admitted there was anxiety within the union but he remained optimistic.
"General Motors has been very, very successful in Canada and providing they get the loans that will allow them to get through this very difficult period we believe they have a future but the work has to get done before the crisis continues to get worse," he said.
Federal and provincial governments have promised automakers $4 billion in aid.
The companies' Canadian subsidiaries must submit their restructuring plans by Feb. 20.
On Tuesday, Chris Buckley, president of Local 222 in Oshawa, said he was worried about plant closures in Canada.
"If we choose not to be part of the solution, there's a very real possibility that GM could take our vehicles out of Canada and move them to the United States or another country," Buckley told CTV Toronto.
Buckley's comments came as top GM executives gathered in Detroit to discuss the company's fate.
Buckley said he urgently wanted to speak with GM management to discuss how to save jobs.
Lewenza said Wednesday the CAW is having "very verbal conversations with GM and Chrysler" but that the reality is they are "preliminary."
"There's no use in talking to the CAW in a serious way until we get a manufacturing footprint in Canada that preserves the existing facilities in Canada," he said.
He said the sense of urgency has waned on the part of the federal and provincial governments.
"Before the holidays, there was this incredible urgency that this had to be resolved in early January or the GM operations were in trouble globally," Lewenza said.
"All of a sudden there has not been a lot of discussions between the provincial and federal government that we know of and there's no term agreement relative to the conditions of the loan."
In January, GM's sales in Canada dropped by 46.6 per cent.
With reports from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney and Paul Bliss, and files from The Canadian Press
