The Canadian federal government had a lot of pride when national employment rose by 93,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.2% points to 7.9%. This positive number will probably be changed in the next release. General Motors in Windsor closed its transmission plant on Wednesday.

After 90 years, the automotive era in the border city Windsor, Ontario, is over. Wednesday was the last day for about 500 workers who have lost their job in the General Motors plant. In May 2008, the company removed 1,400 jobs in Windsor and this time the last jobs were eliminated. General Motors in Windsor used to have 7,000 employers and used to be the biggest employer in the city.

General Motors has been posting losses for a while. However, the layoff in Windsor does not mean the end of the automotive industry in Canada. The automotive industry is Canada's largest manufacturing sector and according to the government data accounts for 16.7 percent of North American vehicle production, or 2.6 million units. On the other hand, the Canadian auto sector employment decline continues despite a recovery in sales. As of April 2010, 123,829 Canadians worked in the auto industry. Employment in the Canadian auto industry has been declining for the past five years. Since the industry's peak in 2001 with almost 200,000 jobs, employment in the auto sector has dropped by nearly 40 per cent. Canada's auto sector is mostly based in southern Ontario and if the trend continues, Ontario will record even higher unemployment numbers.

Some of the former Windsor General Motors employees are planning to retire but some will have to look for another job in the area. Even if the heart of Canada's automotive industry is dead, GM still operates three other plants in Ontario in Ingersoll, St. Catharines and Oshawa.

The Windsor employees, as thousands of others in the sector, belonged to The Canadian Auto Workers' Union, the largest private sector union in Canada. Though the union fights for workers rights at the bargaining table, it also causes pain in the dying sector when asking for more. Once the pockets are empty, no union in the world can force any plant to keep going and not bringing in profits.

Jana Paskova  
Photo: ISIFA