June 9, 2008

Unite to Block GM Closure

GM has just signed a legally binding agreement with the CAW that prohibits the closure of this plant; an agreement that has the force of law and that the provincial government must enforce.

The provincial government is obligated to protect GM workers who in good faith entered into this contract; and all workers and the general public who depend on the provincial government to enforce labour law and to safeguard free collective bargaining in Ontario.

Further, GM has just received a $175 million provincial loan, with a 50 year term, dished up from the public coffers for the sole purpose of securing auto jobs in Ontario for the next 50 years. That money, and previous handouts, were given to secure those jobs for future generations of workers, for whole communities, and to secure the Canadian economy.

Those handouts are now Canada's equity in those plants and those jobs. If GM refuses to carry through its part of the deal, the government could and should take over all of GM's Canadian assets, and run the operations as a crown corporation.

General Motors has contracted with workers and with the people of Ontario to keep that plant open.  That's what it's legally obliged to do, and that's what the provincial and federal governments should demand and insist that it do.

Both levels of government should take immediate action to:

• Enact plant closure legislation with teeth that would make illegal for GM (and other corporations) to close their Canadian operations, and to show cause before public tribunals
• Abrogate the Free Trade deals, and implement mutually-beneficial, multi-lateral trade policies, with long-term credits to developing countries
• Require foreign automakers to build their vehicles in Canada in exchange for access to the Canadian market
• Build a Canadian car that's fuel efficient and environmentally sustainable
• Nationalize the oil and gas industry and put it under public democratic control; introduce a two-price system - lower for domestic use and higher for exports
• Stop de-industrialization and expand manufacturing and secondary industry in Canada. Develop an industrial strategy to protect and expand Canada's manufacturing sector, the engine of the economy

Autoworkers are now mobilizing across Ontario to force GM to obey the legally binding collective agreement and to maintain operations in the Oshawa plant for years to come.  Across the country and beyond our borders, workers are watching and hoping for victory.  The best way to secure it is with mass mobilizations and actions in solidarity with Oshawa autoworkers and their union, the CAW.

For our part, the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) stands in full support of this militant struggle for jobs and justice and calls on the labour and democratic movements and all those who care for Canadian sovereignty and democracy to give their full and active support to this important struggle.

A victory for one is a victory for all.