GM will idle 450 workers for a week in January
Most affected by temporary layoff likely won't be paid for time off
Posted By DON FRASER, Standard Staff
Posted 17 days ago
A temporary layoff in early January will affect 450 General Motors employees in St. Catharines and last roughly one week for most workers.
Virginia Lewis, spokeswoman for GM’s operations in St. Catharines, said the V-8 west engine line at the Glendale plant will be down Jan. 6 to 13, resulting in 420 of the layoffs.
The radiator support line at the Ontario Street components plant shuts down Jan. 2 to 13, affecting 30 people.
The local layoff is in connection with GM’s truck manufacturing operation in Oshawa. There, the first two weeks of January will be used as “downtime to adjust their inventory,” Lewis said. GM’s plants in St. Catharines supply parts to Oshawa.
“Any time our assembly plant customers have a change in their schedules, we have to react to adjust our inventory, too,” she said, adding for that reason temporary layoffs can happen throughout the year.
Lewis said demand for the V-6 engine made in St. Catharines — which goes into GM’s new car/SUV crossover vehicles and the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura — remains strong.
“There’s no (employment) change for that program,” she said.
The CAW employees have a one-week waiting period with no pay before government and collective agreement unemployment benefits kick in at 65 per cent of gross pay.
As there have been few temporary layoffs for workers over the past year, “the majority of the (laid-off) employees will not have their waiting week in,” Lewis said. That means the laid-off workers will not be paid for the week off in January.
Terry White, the GM unit plant chairperson for St. Catharines, said the layoff is another reason why people need to buy GM products.
Sales of imported vehicles are hurting Canadian jobs in the Big Three North American auto companies, he said.
Without more domestic demand for vehicles made by GM, Ford and Chrysler, “the Big Three will continue to struggle,” White said.
Visit DiversityJobs.com for information on Diversity in the workplace
Posted By DON FRASER, Standard Staff
Posted 17 days ago
A temporary layoff in early January will affect 450 General Motors employees in St. Catharines and last roughly one week for most workers.
Virginia Lewis, spokeswoman for GM’s operations in St. Catharines, said the V-8 west engine line at the Glendale plant will be down Jan. 6 to 13, resulting in 420 of the layoffs.
The radiator support line at the Ontario Street components plant shuts down Jan. 2 to 13, affecting 30 people.
The local layoff is in connection with GM’s truck manufacturing operation in Oshawa. There, the first two weeks of January will be used as “downtime to adjust their inventory,” Lewis said. GM’s plants in St. Catharines supply parts to Oshawa.
“Any time our assembly plant customers have a change in their schedules, we have to react to adjust our inventory, too,” she said, adding for that reason temporary layoffs can happen throughout the year.
Lewis said demand for the V-6 engine made in St. Catharines — which goes into GM’s new car/SUV crossover vehicles and the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura — remains strong.
“There’s no (employment) change for that program,” she said.
The CAW employees have a one-week waiting period with no pay before government and collective agreement unemployment benefits kick in at 65 per cent of gross pay.
As there have been few temporary layoffs for workers over the past year, “the majority of the (laid-off) employees will not have their waiting week in,” Lewis said. That means the laid-off workers will not be paid for the week off in January.
Terry White, the GM unit plant chairperson for St. Catharines, said the layoff is another reason why people need to buy GM products.
Sales of imported vehicles are hurting Canadian jobs in the Big Three North American auto companies, he said.
Without more domestic demand for vehicles made by GM, Ford and Chrysler, “the Big Three will continue to struggle,” White said.
Visit DiversityJobs.com for information on Diversity in the workplace
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