Some 500 autoworkers will be without work at the end of this week as General Motors ends one of three shifts at its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont.
The move was first announced in May 2025, with plans to shed a third of jobs originally set for November.
The deadline was shifted three months back to March, but from Feb. 2 onwards, only two shifts of workers will be required at the plant.
“We’re upset. The members are upset. The union is upset,” Jeff Gray, president of Unifor Local 222, told Global News.
“There’s no other way to deal with this. We’re angry that the third shift has been taken away from us. We feel it was a reckless decision from General Motors.”
A spokesperson for General Motors said the company had a “comprehensive” package for workers it was laying off and was still committed to its remaining operations in Oshawa.
Gray, however, said he felt his workers had been let down after putting their “blood, sweat and tears” into assembling trucks for GM.
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Asked what he thought was behind the move, he said: “Donald Trump. Plain and simple.”
Roughly 500 people will be directly impacted after some took early retirement packages or left the company. Across the supply chain, Gray said more than 1,000 would lose their jobs.
Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a news release Thursday that the company was doing as U.S. President Donald Trump asked.
“General Motors has made a clear decision to cave to Donald Trump rather than stand up for its loyal Canadian workforce, making the workers in Oshawa pay for that appeasement with their jobs.”
Unifor noted GM ramped up production of Silverado pickup trucks in Fort Wayne, Ind., before announcing the end of the third shift in Oshawa that also produces them, though the company disputes that there was a direct transfer of production.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Thursday there was “a plan” for the workers who are being laid off.
“We’re going to make sure that they have opportunities in the defence sector, life science sector, other areas, and we’ll be there for them 24-7,” he said in Ottawa.
“It’s very disappointing, but this goes back to our point that we have to move quicker and faster and make sure that the federal government comes in to support, not only these workers, but the overall auto sector.”
The premier’s critics say the closure is evidence he is failing in his promise to protect Ontario from the effects of Trump’s tariffs, his central promise during last year’s snap election.
“With news of a shift cut coming in May of 2025, and no sign of President Trump cooling on his punitive tariffs, you have to wonder if there was more the government could have done to protect these jobs,” Ontario Liberal MPP Rob Cerjanic said in a statement.
Local Ontario NDP MPP Jennifer French said the autoworkers would remain after the current tariff spat ends.
“Oshawa’s auto workers will outlast Trump,” she said in a statement. “GM, Doug Ford, and Mark Carney need to be planning a future that takes us further down that road. The fight for Oshawa’s auto future is not over.”
The layoffs are the latest problem for Ontario’s struggling auto sector.
Stellantis idled its Brampton facility, while GM has also stopped production of delivery vans elsewhere in the province. Other companies have paused or delayed planned investments.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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