Hope dims for St. Thomas plant: CAW

Tony Van Alphen

BUSINESS REPORTER

Ford remains firm that the company will close its sputtering St. Thomas plant and hopes are fading that workers can reverse the plan, says their union leader.

Ken Lewenza, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, said today Ford has no new models on the drawing board that it can build in St. Thomas and the only hope is temporarily extending the lifeline of aging full-size passenger cars and a Lincoln luxury vehicle again at the operation.

"It certainly doesn't look good but we're going to keep trying and we're not giving up," Lewenza said in an interview. "We're going to keep pushing. A lot can happen between now and then."

Lewenza noted Ford has experienced some success in the last year and that if it continues, the company may need more production capacity.

"We also think they need to do more due diligence on finding a solution for St. Thomas," he said.

The plant, which opened in 1967, employs about 1,500 workers on one shift. It has dodged several closure announcements by Ford in recent years as the company shuts down operations because of declining market share in North America. Ford has shown signs of reversing that course but it still has excess capacity in the U.S.

Ford and the CAW started discussions this month to reduce labour costs and match concessions that workers at General Motors and Chrysler accepted earlier this year.

But in exchange, the CAW received some commitments from those companies for future production and the union wants the same assurances from Ford.

"If we make sacrifices, St. Thomas somehow has to be part of the solution," Lewenza said.

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