Today is the last day for the long running truck plant, which (according to GM's website) has been pumping out trucks since 1965! If you drive a current Silverado or Sierra 1500 extenda-cab, chances are, it was built in Oshawa. Apparently Mexico will pick up the slack from here on those model of trucks . According to my father-in-law (who worked at the truck plant since ~1982 ... now "retiring") he said that a figure of ~9 Million was estimated for the number of trucks built in Oshawa over the years! That's a lot of trucks!!

The decision to close down the Oshawa truck plant was made quite some time ago, but it's still sad to see it go . I'm remaining cautiously optimistic that the car plant will survive the current mess and continue to build quality cars (including Camaro) for years to come .

 

I'd say if they bought the truck around here, there is a pretty good chance it came from the Ft. Wayne, IN plant...it's still sad to hear though

 

You guys in the CAW should have given up more.

 

The Oshawa plant strictly built extenda-cab 1500's, and ~75% of them went to the U.S.

Don't "you guys" me! I'm not a CAW member (just an Oshawa resident with a vested interested in the company and its workers' welfare ).

As far as the CAW giving up more? Well, obviously Management and the Union came to a collective agreement. It wasn't a one-sided negotiation. Also, the truck plant decision was made well over a year ago (I believe) and I don't think people saw actually believed things going the direction that they've since gone.

The state of the company is not the line-workers' doing. It's not even the Unions' doing. The problems started at the top and trickled down. The guys who worked at the truck plant didn't make their own bed, IMO.

 

Fr. Wayne or Moraine, Oh depending on the truck...or this case bus.

 

I think he was being sarcastic

 

Hard to tell.

"You guys in the CAW should have given up more. "
"You guys in the CAW should have given up more. "
"You guys in the CAW should have given up more. "
"You guys in the CAW should have given up more. "

... different meaning if you know the tone behind it . Problem is, I know there are those who have very little sympathy, and believe that the unions have ruined everything .

 

My Z71 was built there. BEST damn truck, no best VEHICLE, I've ever owned, and I've owned 5 Toyotas.

 

BLASPHEMY!!!

Toyota in the driveway with an American vehicle.... unacceptable. Simply unacceptable.

All join in as we give this traitor 50 lashes with wet noodles!

 

It's comments like these that make me want to break **** around the house!

Ever heard of the "beacon project"? Read it!

http://email.gm.ca/corpdb/cachq/pres...0?OpenDocument


The Ontario and Canadian governments have given GM tons of money to invest in Oshawa. The Oshawa truck plant and Engineering Center was where the R&D was done for the hybrid GMT900 only to have the truck plant close AFTER GM rattifies a new agreement with the CAW only weeks prior.

The CAW has reopenned the contract 3 TIMES in the past 2 years and we are now going for the 4th time.

The government also agreed to give GM loans like the US has in order to keep 20% of GMNA's manufacturing. In a report published today, it seems like the % will now be closer to 15% by 2014.

GM Canada did not cause Gm's woes, in fact GM made more than 30 billions in the past 30 years in Canada. From 1998 to 2004, GM made 60% of their profits from their Canadian operations despite building only 30% of GM vehicles sold.

If it hadn't been from the money made by GM Canada and GMAC from the late 90s to the mid 2000s, it's very likely GM would have went bankrupt 4 or 5 years ago!

GM severely underfunded Canadian workers' pensions while the UAW had lucrative buyouts and jobs for life agreements.

Now Obama claims that they will not go after retirees and that their pensions are safe. We could only dream of such leadership here in Canada

We should have given more my a$$!!!!

 

Yes, my post WAS full of sarcasm. If people know me then they know I am 100% union. I was being a smart ***.

 

Two of them ended up in the scrapyard, I didn't even offer them the dignity of going to the junkyard for parts

Still have two of them. I owned/bought the first three, then I inherited the last two when I married my wife, but I've been taking care of them and driving them since 2003, so they're basically mine too.