TORonTO — The national president of the unio representing GM workers in Canada has expressed his dismay with GMs decision to invest in Mexico.

GM recently announced a $3.6 billion investment to help double production capacity at its plants within Mexico. This investment will generate more than 5,000 new jobs. 

According to GM, Canada ranks #6 in its global manufacturing and is one of its strongest markets.

Audi, BMW, Kia, Daimler, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda are among many auto companies that have looked to Mexico for expansion. Unifor cites these instances as cause for concern, GMs decision adds to the avalanche of new investment announcements received by Mexico in the last year.

Soon Mexico will be producing more than one of every five vehicles in North America.

Unifor is disappointed by this announcement but our determination to work with GM to ensure it has a strong future in Canada is unwavering, said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.

We are confident that GM recognizes the competitiveness of its facilities in Canada and are optimistic that GM remains committed to Canada for the long-term, said Dias.

Canada already experiences a significant automotive trade deficit with Mexico—equal to $9 billion in 2013, and projected to be more than $10 billion this year. The deficit is a result of the fact that the industry in Mexico is oriented to exports, but Mexicans are paid so low they cant buy Canadian-made products. Canada imports close to$15 in auto products from Mexico, for every dollar Canada exports to Mexico.

The bottom line is that Canada has many advantages to offer GM for high-quality, competitive, profitable production. The productivity and quality awards won at Canadas plants are unmatched anywher in GMs global operations, said Dias.

The unio also pointed out the decline in the Canadian dollar means Canadian costs are now fully competitive with any industrialized country. The company is highly profitable in Canada, on both the sales and the manufacturing arms of their business.

GM was saved in 2009 in large part thanks to sacrifices by its Canadian workers, Canadian retirees, Canadian taxpayers, and other Canadian stakeholders (including suppliers and dealers), said Dias. The federal and ontariogovernments contributed over $10 billion to GMs rescue in 2009. We are very disappointed that GM would look at such a huge investment in Mexico today, when the future of its Canadian manufacturing operations is unclear.

Unifor is urging the federal and ontario governments to actively assist in keeping Canada an attractive place to invest and use their shares to win future investments. The governments currently hold seven per cent of GM — making them together the largest common shareholder in the company.

Todays announcement is a call to action for the federal and provincial governments to play a more active role in ensuring GMs long-run presence in Canada, said Dias. Canadian workers and suppliers and communities will do everything we can to make our factories the most high-quality and productive in the world, and highly profitable.  But we cannot match Mexican wages — nor should we even try to.  We need a national auto strategy and sensible trade agreements — not a one-way street like NAFTA has become, said Dias.

SOURCE Unifor