Business

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Plant closure puts 450 out of work in Ontario

By: Keith Leslie

Posted: 02/4/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

John Densky / Postmedia News CAW president Ken Lewenza speaks to Electro-Motive workers in London on Friday.

TORONTO -- The Canadian Auto Workers union president said he wasn't surprised Friday to hear American-based heavy-equipment-maker Caterpillar Inc. is closing its Electro-Motive plant in London, Ont., a month after it locked out 450 workers.

The closure was a "callous" move but not unexpected, because Caterpillar had no intention of keeping the London plant open, said Ken Lewenza.

The union estimates the move will impact about 2,100 jobs.

"From day one, we believed that Caterpillar was trying to provoke a crisis by forcing deep cuts that were not possible," Lewenza said. "Another 1,700 workers employed in spinoff jobs are now the casualties of an outdated and dysfunctional Investment Canada Act that attaches no commitment to Canadian jobs to corporate takeovers."

Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Services said Friday the cost structure at the locomotive plant was unsustainable, though Caterpillar last week reported a 58 per cent increase in its quarterly earnings with a record profit of nearly $5 billion. The company had asked employees to take a 50 per cent pay cut to help keep Electro-Motive going, but locked them out Jan. 1 when CAW members rejected the proposal.

The Ontario Federation of Labour also lashed out at the federal government for not protecting the jobs.

"Job loss like this is going to continue to decimate towns across the country as long as Prime Minister (Stephen) Harper continues to allow corporate greed to drive incredible profits at the expense of the livelihood of Canadians," OFL president Sid Ryan said. "The Harper government is allowing multinational corporations to gobble up Canadian manufacturing, strip our innovation and technology and then ship jobs and production to low-wage states."

Ontario Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid confirmed the Electro-Motive closure Friday morning.

"I haven't heard any rationale for it," Duguid said.

The announcement of the plant closure came days after Premier Dalton McGuinty criticized the company in a speech in London, and after the province's Ministry of Labour tried to get the firm back to the bargaining table.

Harper used Electro-Motive as a backdrop in 2008 to promote tax breaks for industrial capital investments, but Ottawa declined to get involved in the labour dispute.

Shelly Glover, parliamentary secretary to the finance minister, said the Conservatives have introduced a hiring credit for small business that will help Canada weather plant closures.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 4, 2012 B9

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