Police ignoring blockade: GM

Court filing claims calls for help rebuffed; chief feared intervention would spark a confrontation

Jun 12, 2008

Business Reporter

General Motors says police have refused to intervene in a high profile illegal union blockade at its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa that will cripple the automaker's business and reputation if it continues.

GM of Canada Ltd. reveals in court documents that the company asked Durham regional police repeatedly during the last week for assistance so staff could go to work at headquarters where union members have a set up the blockade in protest of next year's closing of a nearby truck plant.

But police chief Mike Ewles told GM in a letter that the force didn't want to trigger a confrontation through intervention and advised the auto maker to seek a court injunction, which the company is pursuing today.

"It is not our intent to intercede between disputing parties and aggravate an ostensibly peaceful demonstration by creating a major breach of the peace," Ewles said in the letter that GM includes in its application for an injunction.

"The ends simply do not justify the means."

GM, the country's biggest automaker, is seeking the injunction to lift the blockade and collect damages of $1.5 million against CAW Local 222, its president Chris Buckley and four other union members.

The CAW's blockade, which is now in its ninth day and attracting international attention, has stopped more than 900 staff employees from going to work. They have worked from home or at an undisclosed "temporary satellite location," the company says.

The blockade started a day after GM announced the closing of the Oshawa truck plant in the second half of 2009 because soaring fuel prices are driving consumers from pickups to more fuel-efficient vehicles. The move would eliminate more than 2,000 jobs at the plant, which has won several industry awards for productivity and quality.

An adjacent plant builds cars while a new flexible manufacturing operation will start assembling the Camaro model later this year. Ontario and Ottawa are in negotiations with GM for more aid to build other models at that operation. GM already expects to pay back millions of dollars it received for the same operation because it will likely miss minimal job guarantees.

Union leaders argue GM broke recent contract commitments on future production but the company counters that those pledges depend on demand.

Buckley said in a responding affidavit that GM's breaches have left the union with few options. The picket line has been peaceful and the union has allowed access to any staff employee that GM deems "essential," he noted.

Keith Osborne, the CAW's chair at GM's Oshawa complex, said late yesterday if the court ruled against the union, it would abide by the decision but pursue "other actions."

He would not elaborate. GM says in one affidavit supporting the injunction application that if the blockade continues, it will cause "irreparable harm" because the headquarters conducts essential business for operations in Canada, the U.S. and abroad.

Daniel O'Neill, GM's director of vehicle marketing, says in the affidavit that lack of staff access is leading to "rapidly escalating risk" to operations. They include:

Stopping the purchasing department from paying suppliers and therefore jeopardizing the flow of parts to assembly plants.

Stalling marketing efforts that could put the company at a competitive disadvantage.

Blocking technical people from maintaining computer systems that could crash and cripple communication with dealers.

Preventing legal staff from seeing files and meeting deadlines.

Halting parts orders from affiliates in China, South Africa and Venezuela, which rely on GM here.

Furthermore, O'Neill said if the union can continue actions that shut down assembly plants in Oshawa, it would affect other workers, contractors and vehicle deliveries to dealers, which would harm GM's reputation with customers.

"This damage to the reputation of GMC would be impossible to quantify and may never be regained," he added in the affidavit.

A union motorcade slowly wound its way around the sprawling Oshawa assembly complex for three hours on Saturday and delayed parts deliveries. It resulted in a 45-minute production stoppage and the loss of output of 138 cars and trucks, according to the company.

Buckley has told workers to continue reporting for their regular shifts and let the union lead the drive to reverse GM's decision.

O'Neill said GM understands the frustration of workers and the company has taken a "balanced approach" to avoiding confrontations between pickets and staff.

The CAW has allowed some staff to enter the headquarters to ensure the processing of payroll to thousands of workers but the pickets "have no right to dictate to GM" who is necessary, O'Neill said.

"The current situation is not sustainable and puts GM's business at significant risk," he noted.

O'Neill said he tried to get police assistance for access to headquarters on Monday but a sergeant at the scene talked to the union and then told him if uniform officers arrived, "an incident might ensue and this could cause things to escalate."

GM requested a police presence later in the day so staff could enter and leave headquarters. A duty inspector indicated a police unit would be there the next day, but then Chief Ewles rejected the request, according to O'Neill.

Ewles said demonstrators would "have their time" and staff employees could gain access "thereafter."

"Failing that, each party has the option to ... seek a remedy by way of an injunction," he said.