CAPITALISM GONE ROGUE: GM Bites the Hand that Fed it

I am a proud Canadian. But, like most Canadians, I'm a bit reserved in expressing my pride and patriotism.

UNTIL NOW.

Several days ago, General Motors announced that it will close its long-standing Oshawa car production plant in Ontario next year. Ontario will lose an estimated 10,000 jobs: 3,000 at the GM plant and 7,000 in the associated parts/assembly industry that feeds and depends on GM.

GM is cutting ties with the production facility that represented their origins and their strength for more than a century. Oshawa was developed at the time of the First World War by the McLaughlin Motor Company, which went on to become General Motors Canada and a cornerstone in the evolution of General Motors as we know it today.

Canada and Ontario always remembered and valued those historic connections. When GM was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2009, it went crawling and grovelling to the Canadian and Ontario governments for a bail-out. 

Canada and Ontario remained steadfast supporters of GM. We were there in GM's darkest hour, and jointly provided $10 Billion of financial aid to GM to keep it afloat.

GM's CEO, Mary Barra, says that they are closing the Oshawa plant as part of a strategic shift to focus on electric and autonomous vehicles going forward. What hogwash! It's not that Oshawa couldn't produce new-generation electric cars. Oshawa is one of the most automated, efficient and low-cost plants that GM has anywhere in the United States and Canada. And it was due for a product change and retooling at the end of next year anyway. 

So what's the real reason that GM is shutting down Oshawa?

It slipped out in Mary Barra's public statement about the Oshawa closure: GM will be creating a new, major production facility in Mexico. Not because Mexico supported GM when it was in trouble. Mexico didn't provide a single dime of financial support in 2009. 

In reality, it's because GM pays its Mexican workers a fraction of what it pays its Canadian employees – and thrives on their relative impoverishment while biting the hand that fed it and kept it alive in 2009.

My family is in the market for a new car and we were seriously considering the Cadillac XT5, a highly-rated, mid-size SUV. Not any more! I'm disgusted with GM! I'll never buy a GM car as long as I live and I will encourage everyone I know to do the same.

This is corporate capitalism gone rogue. BOYCOTT GENERAL MOTORS !!

#GeneralMotors  #automotiveindustry