Unifor vows to continue fighting for GM Oshawa plant, with a little help from Sting
Jerry Dias is standing beside a stage in an Oshawa arena, furiously shaking his hands in the air and scowling slightly, occasionally glancing over notes scribbled and highlighted onto a piece of paper.
A few metres from him, rock star Sting is conducting a soundcheck, strumming a guitar while singing “Message in a Bottle.”
Even Dias, the national president of Canada’s largest private-sector union Unifor, was in slight disbelief at the sight unfolding at the Tribute Communities Centre last week.
“He’s got a Unifor microphone. How cool,” Dias says, looking at the stage, momentarily shedding the tough-guy persona so often on full display during rallies and press conferences. As soundcheck wraps up, he pumps his fist in the air, to which Sting responds with an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Then it’s back to business. An hour and several live television hits later, Dias is taking his turn on the stage, lambasting General Motors for announcing plans to shutter the Oshawa Assembly Plant, promising to continue to fight to keep it open.
It’s an unusual set of circumstances that brought this unlikely pair together last Thursday. But both seemed to understand they were there to help each other, as well as fulfill a mutually beneficial desire for some self-promotion. Wandering through the concrete halls of the arena, Dias guided Sting into a musty visitor’s dressing room, where several GM employees were waiting to hear words of encouragement from the singer. Later, the cast of The Last Ship, Sting’s play now showing in Toronto, gave the audience a taste of what the production had to offer.
But the fact that Sting and the cast volunteered to sing in solidarity with soon-to-be laid-off GM workers is a testament to Dias’ relentless determination – or, as Sting called it, his “pugnacious personality” – to continue in a fight that even some of his union members have conceded is a hopeless one.
“Look, we tried being nice to GM. We tried having sophisticated discussions. That didn’t work,” Dias told Yahoo Finance Canada in an interview last week.
“If we can’t get General Motors to live up to the commitment that they made to us in 2016, then the only way that we’re going to get their attention is by being aggressive.”
The Sting performance was just one aspect of the union’s aggressive campaign to reverse GM’s decision to close the plant in December 2019. Dias’ hope with the Oshawa show was that Sting’s star power would help elevate the union’s message and ideally force GM to come back to the negotiating table and extend the life of the facility. It also gave Sting another chance to promote The Last Ship. Dias said the only cost Unifor incurred for the Sting performance was renting the Tribute Communities Centre rink for the afternoon.
“I didn’t know about the story of this town, the threatened closure until I got to Canada last week. Then reading about it and articles about Jerry, I realized that the parallels between the story we’re portraying on stage and what they are facing here. It’s the same story,” Sting said in an interview with Yahoo Finance Canada.
“So we thought we’d come in a gesture of solidarity. We haven’t got a magic wand to wave, but I think people need their stories to be heard.”
In recent weeks, Unifor has ramped-up the campaign aimed at reversing GM’s decision. Anti-GM ads aired during the Super Bowl, Grammy Awards, various NHL games and will again be broadcast this weekend during the Academy Awards. Protesting workers blocked access to GM’s headquarters in Oshawa last month. The union is also urging Canadians to boycott GM vehicles made in Mexico.
It’s all part of Dias’ efforts to keep the issue in the headlines, maintain pressure on the automaker and force GM to at least extend the life of the Oshawa plant until the collective bargaining agreement expires in September 2020.
“This isn’t complicated,” Dias said.
“They agreed there would be no closures during the life of the agreement, that means there can’t be any closures during the life of the agreement. Those nine extra months can buy us a lot more time to find a real solution.”
But even that seems to be a longshot. So far, GM has been unwavering in its decision. Following the Sting performance, it issued a statement pointing to supports it is offering Oshawa employees.
“We agree that community-based efforts are important to support employees, especially when industries have to change,” the company said.
“Pensions, $50-60,000 lump sums, new car vouchers, extended benefits and paid retraining at our local community colleges to prepare employees for over 5,000 good available GTA area jobs are among the supports GM has asked Unifor to start to discuss for Oshawa Assembly workers.”
Robert Bunke, a 49-year-old worker at the Oshawa Assembly Plant, says he is not naive about the facility’s future prospects. The slight hope he previously felt has all but disappeared, despite the meetings, protests, boycotts and headlines demanding the opposite
“Back in November when they announced the closure, I still saw a tiny sliver, a tiny glimmer of light. I don’t even see that now,” he said.
“I’m 49-years old. It’s hard at my age to get a new job. And I have a job that I love. I genuinely love going in there. I build these vehicles with pride. I wish there was a glimmer of hope, but I can’t imagine General Motors is all of a sudden going to change its mind.”
Still, he wants Dias and the union to continue pushing forward with their campaign.
“They need to recognize that they are leaving a city that is synonymous with General Motors. You’re going to leave and expect us to support it? That’s not going to happen.”
Some – including Ontario Premier Doug Ford – have been critical of Unifor’s strategy that has yet to bring GM executives to the negotiating table in a meaningful way. Ford told reporters in Woodbridge, Ont. the same day of the solidarity show that he disagreed with Dias’ plan, and questioned the decision to spend money on things such as advertisements during the Super Bowl, instead of on the workers who will soon be out of jobs.
Dias, not one to mince words when it comes to his critics, dismissed the criticism and said that the union did not shell out millions for an ad, as the premier had implied. The ad only aired on the Canadian networks, which do not charge the US$5.2 million CBS was asking for per 30 second spot.
“A person like Doug Ford fancies himself as a prized fighter, yet he fainted in the weigh-in,” Dias said, adding that the cost of the union’s campaign so far has been “money very well spent.”
“There has to be a price to pay for your greed. It would be easy for us to sit back and say, ‘Oh, the ship has sailed.’ The ship hasn’t sailed. And I’m going to fight this thing right until the bitter end.”
Dias is a tough, persistent and is savvy negotiator. It’s why he was a seemingly constant presence throughout the NAFTA renegotiations last year, often popping up in Washington to express his displeasure about U.S. President Donald Trump’s America-first policies.
He promises this isn’t going to be the last GM will have heard from him and the union.
“We have Sting today, we have the Academy Awards next weekend, we have more surprises up our sleeves. We’re not going away.”
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