General Motors has officially announced it will stop production at its Oshawa plant in 2019, confirming media reports from late Sunday evening.The move will affect thousands of jobs in the city, just east of Toronto.It is part of broader changes at the company’s North American operations, including also ceasing production at assembly plants in Ohio and Michigan, according to a press release posted to GM’s website Monday morning.According to GM’s website, the Oshawa Assembly Plant employs 2,522 workers with Unifor Local 222. Production began on Nov. 7, 1953, and in the 1980s the plant employed roughly 23,000 people. The plant is used to make the Cadillac XTS and Chevrolet Impala sedans as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks.“The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future,” GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said in the release.“We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.”The company will lay off 14,700 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles.About 6,000 factory workers could lose jobs in the U.S. and Canada. The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off.On Monday morning, dozens of workers were seen walking out of the Oshawa plant, with some saying they were very unhappy with news of the planned closure.One man said the union had told workers at the plant to go home and would be speaking with employees at an afternoon meeting.Most workers leaving the plant declined to speak, just shaking their heads.“This one just caught everyone by surprise. Normally, you have some idea when something like th ...
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