CAW ends GM protest

Staff Reporter

Jun 16, 2008

General Motors workers obeyed a judges order just before 7 a.m. today to lift a two-week-old blockade at the giant auto maker's headquarters in Oshawa.

The move allowed about 900 salaried employees to return to work, after working out of their homes and in a satellite office since June 3.

Canadian Auto Workers local 222 set up the blockade to protest the company's plans to close its truck assembly plant next year because of falling sales, a move the union says will eliminate 2,600 jobs.

Local union president Chris Buckley led a convoy of vehicles from headquarters on Colonel Sam Dr. to circle the truck plant on Park Rd. a few kilometres away.

"We're not going to stop this fight," Buckley said as they hit the road. "We're not going to let General Motors off the hook."

But he said the union has no intention violating the judge's orders.

Justice David Salmers of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled late Friday that the company would suffer irreparable harm if the blockade continued.

However he criticized GM for it's "deceit-like behaviour" in the dispute and recognized the worker's rights to freedom of expression. He told the union a maximum of 20 people could picket on public property adjacent to headquarters, but Buckley said they were vacating the premises all together.

"The judge was very fair," he said because the judge allowed the blockade to continue through the weekend. "That in itself was a victory."

The union has charges the company has breached a contract signed earlier by reneging on production commitments. Salmers said GM breached the contract by not properly consulting the union before the announcement about the plant closing.

Buckley said the union will continue to protest, but he didn't give any details about what form it would take.

thestar.com