Inteva workers walk off job in Ontario in protest of upcoming GM plant closure

Unionized workers at the Whitby, Ont. facility of automotive interiors supplier Inteva Products LLC walked off the job on Jan. 15 in a bid to convince General Motors Co. to reverse its plans to end production at its Oshawa assembly plant this year.

“At 8:30 this morning, workers at Inteva walked off the job in protest,” trade union Unifor said in a statement. “These members of [Unifor Local] 1090 make parts for the GM Oshawa and Detroit-Hamtramck and are some of the thousands who will lose their jobs if GM closes Oshawa.”

Inteva’s Whitby plant supplies components such as headliners, floor consoles, and instrument panels for the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS to GM’s Oshawa and Detroit-Hamtramck plants.

In November, GM announced plans to end production at the Oshawa plant, Detroit-Hamtramck and Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plants and two transmission plants, one in Warren and one in Baltimore, this year.

The GM Oshawa plant builds the Cadillac XTS and the Chevrolet Impala sedans. It also assembles the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, but the redesigned 2019 pickups are now built in GM’s Fort Wayne Plant in Indiana.

Inteva is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and is one of the world’s largest global automotive suppliers.

The walkout at Inteva comes as GM reaffirmed that the Oshawa closure will occur after meetings with Ontario and federal officials. As reported by the Canadian Press, Federal Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains met briefly with GM CEO Mary Barra on the sidelines of an auto show in Detroit on Jan. 13 and Ontario Premier Doug Ford met with GM president Mark Reuss on Jan. 14. Both politicians said they urged the company to reconsider its decision to shutter the plant at the end of this year but were told that the automaker will go ahead with its plans to wind down its Oshawa operations by the end of 2019 at a loss of about 2,600 unionized workers and 340 other staff.