![]() Hargrove was forced to bend on a key part of the CAW's bargaining strategy. In the United States and Mexico, GM laid off 13,000 employees who make parts for vehicles assembled in Canada. The dispute over that outsourcing project prompted walkouts by 26,000 workers from GM plants across southern Ontario and in Ste-Thérèse, Que. GM aims to become more efficient by reducing its manufacturing capacity and purchasing more parts from outside suppliers who can produce the products more cheaply. Hargrove had vowed to shut GM down until it agreed to protect about 3,500 union jobs at stake under plans to sell a fabrication plant in Oshawa and a trim plant in Windsor, Ont. The breakthrough at the bargaining table was dramatic. "Now, there is light at the end of tunnel," said Dave Broadbent, a 35-year GM employee. Hargrove then raced to Oshawa to deliver the news to the protesters, who emerged jubilant. After two hours of negotiations, they emerged with what appeared to be a potentially strike-ending compromise: the automaker would be able to reduce its costs by purchasing more parts from outside suppliers, but union jobs would be protected even as the company downsized. Unknown to them, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove was holding a simultaneous secret summit meeting with GM worldwide chairman Jack Smith in a Toronto hotel room. ![]() In protest, about 300 workers forced out security guards and welded shut the doors to the plant. ![]() dragging into its third week, tempers flared at a cavernous GM plant in Oshawa, Ont., when company officials said they would seek a court injunction allowing them to remove machinery used to stamp out components for other auto manufacturers. With the strike against General Motors of Canada Ltd. For picketing Canadian autoworkers, it was a symbolic gesture. ![]()
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