What’s going to happen to the GM plant in Oshawa when the automaker moves out?

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Unifor Local 222 and the Durham Region Labour Council has some ideas.

They want to nationalize it, or put it into public ownership, and retool it to build electric vehicles.

National President of CUPW Mike Palecek says they’ve been campaigning for some time for a green transition at Canada Post and that would include transitioning the vehicle fleet to electric vehicles.

He says it’s time to get serious about climate change.

“If the private sector isn’t prepared to build electric vehicles in this country, then the public sector needs to do it,” explained Palecek. “It’s an opportunity to re imagine how we can do things differently, how we can use public assets to lead that transition to a carbon neutral economy.”

He says they can maintain some of the jobs if they can keep the plant open, it’s just a question of retooling it for the future.

A discussion on nationalizing GM to implement a “Green New Deal for Oshawa” will be held Thursday between 7 and 9 p.m. at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall at 1001 Ritson Road South in Oshawa.