Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau: Order the Use of the GM Oshawa Plant for Essential Medical Production

Labour, Public Goods • April 6, 2020 • Green Jobs Oshawa

We call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue an immediate order for the production of essential medical equipment and supplies in the Oshawa GM complex and related parts supplier facilities. This should be the first step toward establishing a publicly owned manufacturing centre that could supply strategically necessary goods in times of crisis.

The GM manufacturing complex has 10 million square feet – 90 per cent of it unused.

Other supplier companies in the Oshawa area are also empty as a result of GM’s decision to end vehicle assembly in Oshawa.

Thousands of highly skilled GM and supplier workers are unemployed as a result of GM’s actions, and would be eager to work on this crucially needed production.

We are facing a crisis. “Our hospital members report that supplies are being rationed. In long-term care and home care these protections are especially scarce. We are asking for safety protocols to be toughened; for expired masks to be distributed and for industry to be immediately directed to produce masks and testing kits,” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), on March 30, 2020.

As the Covid-19 pandemic surges in Ontario and Canada, we must ensure that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, and that all necessary medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE) and related supplies are provided.

Some companies have already stepped forward to assist with the manufacture of ventilators and masks, and General Motors is helping to make ventilators in Ohio, but GM of Canada has not yet made a major contribution. What has been offered so far will not remotely meet the need as this crisis escalates. We cannot rely on the good will of a few companies, we need the government to use its emergency powers to order the production that is required.

We are seeing the consequences of not having manufacturing capacity in Canada when the government of the US threatens to prevent delivery of N95 masks manufactured there. We are also seeing that private ownership of manufacturing, and supply and demand leads to skyrocketing prices and lack of supply of equipment and pharmaceuticals at a time of crisis.

Order the manufacturing of necessary equipment immediately in Oshawa, and require the cooperation of General Motors of Canada.

of necessary equipment immediately in Oshawa, and require the cooperation of General Motors of Canada. Use this as the first step toward establishing a Crown Corporation in the vacant 90 per cent of the Oshawa complex, to provide Canada with a secure source of vitally necessary medical and other products for the future.

in the vacant 90 per cent of the Oshawa complex, to provide Canada with a secure source of vitally necessary medical and other products for the future. Use a publicly owned manufacturing hub in Oshawa to also prepare for the looming climate crisis. The lack of preparation for this pandemic is a stark warning that a Green New Deal must be launched now. •

Press release:

Manufacturing Workers in Oshawa Call on Trudeau to Order Use of GM Oshawa Plant for Essential Medical Production

Green Jobs Oshawa, a coalition including former GM and supplier workers, calls on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to immediately order the production of essential medical equipment and supplies at the Oshawa GM complex and related parts supplier facilities. This should be the first step toward establishing a publicly owned manufacturing centre that could supply strategically necessary goods in times of crisis.

Tony Leah, retired GM worker and advocate with Green Jobs Oshawa lays out the facts: “The GM manufacturing complex has 10 million square feet – 90 per cent of it unused. Other supplier companies in the Oshawa area are also empty as a result of GM’s decision to end vehicle assembly in Oshawa. Thousands of highly skilled GM and supplier workers are unemployed as a result of GM’s actions, and would be eager to work on this crucially needed production.”

The coalition highlights the crisis due to insufficient supplies of necessary masks, ventilators, protective clothing, and other equipment for front line health providers and first responders. There may also be a need for hospital beds and other equipment to expand ICU capacity. As the Covid-19 pandemic surges in Ontario and Canada, we must ensure that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed.

“It’s not enough to ask companies to volunteer conversion and manufacturing. This is a worldwide crisis requiring immediate, strong, and bold leadership,” said Rebecca Keetch, laid-off GM worker and advocate. “This only reinforces Green Jobs Oshawa’s call to maintain manufacturing capacity in Ontario. Some companies have already stepped forward to assist with the manufacture of ventilators and masks, but as far as we know, General Motors of Canada has not yet offered a major contribution. This is why we are calling on the government to enforce this.”

“Medical professionals are urging the government to use its emergency powers to order Ontario industry to produce masks and ventilators, which are in short supply. Both will be needed to protect the healthcare workforce from infection and the sickest of COVID-19 patients. We can answer this call swiftly with our workforce,” states Durham Region Labour Council President, Tiffany Balducci.

“Our ideas make sense and our demands are clear,” states Tony Leah. “Start the manufacturing of necessary equipment immediately in Oshawa, requiring the cooperation of General Motors of Canada and use this as the first step toward establishing a Crown Corporation in the vacant 90 per cent of the Oshawa complex, to provide Canada with a secure source of vitally necessary medical and other products for the future. We can use a publicly owned manufacturing hub in Oshawa to also prepare for the looming climate crisis. The lack of preparation for this pandemic is a stark warning that a Green New Deal must be launched now.”

Further reading:

Tom Walkom’s Toronto Star column

With global trade all bets are off during a pandemic. “Tellingly, there has been no effort by the federal government to do the obvious and convert a portion of General Motors’ shuttered Oshawa plant into a factory permanently mandated to produce medical supplies. Such a move would create jobs at this harsh time. It would also help Canada deal with this epidemic and prepare for future ones.” April 2, 2020.

column With global trade all bets are off during a pandemic. Ontario Council of Hospital Unions release

Health minister misinformed: 87 per cent of Ontario health care staff polled say not enough PPE on hand to keep them safe. “Our hospital members report that supplies are being rationed. In long-term care and home care these protections are especially scarce. There is a sense of abandonment and a building anger that the Ontario government has downgraded its safety protocols. We are asking for those protocols to be toughened; for expired masks to be distributed and for industry to be immediately directed to produce masks and testing kits.” Michael Hurley president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), March 30, 2020.

Health minister misinformed: 87 per cent of Ontario health care staff polled say not enough PPE on hand to keep them safe. Financial Post interview, April 3, 2020

Jerry Dias: Reopen auto plants and put people to work building what we need to fight coronavirus.

interview, April 3, 2020 Jerry Dias: Reopen auto plants and put people to work building what we need to fight coronavirus. BBC News , April 3, 2020

Coronavirus: US ‘wants 3M to end mask exports to Canada and Latin America’ “A major US mask manufacturer, 3M, says the government has asked it to stop exporting US-made N95 masks to Canada and Latin America.”

“The company says manufactures about 100 million N95 masks per month – about a third are made in the US, and the rest produced overseas.”

“Canada does not manufacture any N95 masks domestically.”

, April 3, 2020 Coronavirus: US ‘wants 3M to end mask exports to Canada and Latin America’ Linda McQuaig’s Toronto Star column

The public lab that could have helped fight COVID-19 pandemic “Canada once had a publicly owned pharmaceutical company that could have made a difference in the current coronavirus crisis – except that we sold it.” “Hated by its corporate competitors, Connaught was unique among pharmaceutical companies in that its focus was on human need, not profit.” “If a publicly owned Connaught were still operating today, it could be contributing to the development of the coronavirus vaccine – and ensuring a Canadian supply if there was a global shortage. Yet, tragically it isn’t.

Succumbing to corporate pressure and a misguided belief that the private sector always does things better, Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government privatized Connaught Labs in the 1980s. Today, what remains of this once-dazzling Canadian public enterprise has been taken over by a giant French pharmaceutical company.

The coronavirus outbreak may finally help expose the fallacy of the notion that the private marketplace is innately superior – which has been the guiding principle in Anglo-American countries (including Canada) for the past four decades, leading to the constant denigration of government and its functions.”

column The public lab that could have helped fight COVID-19 pandemic Take the Plant, Save the Planet “On November 26, 2018, General Motors announced a number of plant closures in North America, the largest of which was in Oshawa, Ontario. The Oshawa facility, once the largest auto complex on the continent, was to end all its assembly operations by the end of 2019. The threats and opportunities of the environmental crisis offer a chance for labour revival, but only if this incorporates a renewed approach to organizing, struggle, radical politics, and the maximization of informed membership participation.” March 2020 •

This article first published on the Green Jobs Oshawa.ca website.