American Axle strike keeps local autoworkers home Monday
Mar 03, 2008 - 11:51 AM
By Kim Downey
DURHAM -- A labour strike at a U.S. parts manufacturer continues to keep local plants in shutdown mode forcing the layoff of hundreds of workers at GM in Oshawa and local feeder plants.
Both Lear in Ajax, whose sole customer is the General Motors plant in Oshawa and Automodular Montecourt, in Whitby, which supplies parts for GM, were sitting idle as of this morning.
GM also is sitting idle as of this morning putting 2,400 truck plant workers on layoff. A spokesman could not be reached to comment but said Friday that a shortage of parts impacted the truck plant which closed down after the second shift Friday night. GM's Oshawa car plant may also be affected depending on the length of the strike, potentially putting another 5,600 workers off the job.
"It's absolutely devastating," said Steve Batchelor, president of Local 1090 of the Canadian Autoworkers Union. He represents 225 workers at the Lear plant and 175 workers at Automodular.
"We don't know how it will shake out. Talks between both the company and union have broken down and as far as I know none are scheduled."
Local auto workers affected by the shutdowns should be eligible to receive employment insurance benefits right away, he said. The Lear employees also get topped up by $125 per week.
About 3,650 UAW workers went on strike at American Axle's five U.S. plants last Tuesday in Detroit and Three Rivers.
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