December 11, 2020
On November 5, 2020 General Motors announced the return of Sierra and Silverado truck production to the Oshawa Assembly Plant starting in 2022. Green Jobs Oshawa welcomes the return of jobs to our community. Green Jobs Oshawa recognizes the significant positive impact on workers and the community of this announcement.
We are proud to be among the many voices that kept Oshawa on the public agenda over the past two years. We are also grateful to everyone else who took part in that conversation – we intend to keep it going. There are some serious issues to consider even as many celebrate.
Despite the short term relief this announcement brings, there is reason to be cautious about GM’s long-term commitment to Oshawa. It was less than a year ago that GM ended vehicle assembly in Oshawa and callously abandoned the workforce and community which had given them over 100 years of quality production and immense profit.
While Ford and FCA have made major future electric vehicle announcements, GM doesn’t promise any electric vehicle production for Canada. Instead of making Oshawa part of GM’s ‘autonomous, electric, and connected’ future, they have decided to use Oshawa for overflow production of fossil fuel dependent trucks. The Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks are currently produced in 3 other North American plants. They are popular right now, but what happens when demand slows? Experience has taught us that GM puts profits ahead of any commitment to the workers and community of Oshawa.
We must acknowledge that there is no long-term future in building the kind of vehicle that has brought our world to the edge of total climate breakdown. There will always be insecurity if future decisions affecting our community are weighed by only how much profit will be made for a company. We must ask ourselves what role can we play to escape the boom or bust cycle of corporate auto dependence and how can we get on a path of sustainable stability?
As a result of these concerns, Green Jobs Oshawa plans to continue to work for longer term solutions. We are going to continue the conversation around maintaining and developing Canadian manufacturing capacities, encouraging our research and development capabilities, addressing the environmental crisis, and fighting growing inequality. Our continuing dependence on profit-driven corporations like GM is not a solution. They are the problem. Our community will be strengthened by truck production coming back. However, we must use this new strength to continue the fight for our future. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past, let’s keep thinking big and build for a better tomorrow.
We are proud to be among the many voices that kept Oshawa on the public agenda over the past two years. We are also grateful to everyone else who took part in that conversation – we intend to keep it going. There are some serious issues to consider even as many celebrate.
Despite the short term relief this announcement brings, there is reason to be cautious about GM’s long-term commitment to Oshawa. It was less than a year ago that GM ended vehicle assembly in Oshawa and callously abandoned the workforce and community which had given them over 100 years of quality production and immense profit.
While Ford and FCA have made major future electric vehicle announcements, GM doesn’t promise any electric vehicle production for Canada. Instead of making Oshawa part of GM’s ‘autonomous, electric, and connected’ future, they have decided to use Oshawa for overflow production of fossil fuel dependent trucks. The Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks are currently produced in 3 other North American plants. They are popular right now, but what happens when demand slows? Experience has taught us that GM puts profits ahead of any commitment to the workers and community of Oshawa.
We must acknowledge that there is no long-term future in building the kind of vehicle that has brought our world to the edge of total climate breakdown. There will always be insecurity if future decisions affecting our community are weighed by only how much profit will be made for a company. We must ask ourselves what role can we play to escape the boom or bust cycle of corporate auto dependence and how can we get on a path of sustainable stability?
As a result of these concerns, Green Jobs Oshawa plans to continue to work for longer term solutions. We are going to continue the conversation around maintaining and developing Canadian manufacturing capacities, encouraging our research and development capabilities, addressing the environmental crisis, and fighting growing inequality. Our continuing dependence on profit-driven corporations like GM is not a solution. They are the problem. Our community will be strengthened by truck production coming back. However, we must use this new strength to continue the fight for our future. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past, let’s keep thinking big and build for a better tomorrow.
