CAW calls for action to stem manufacturing job losses

"Today's news of major manufacturing job loss in Canada for December should serve as a stern reminder that the federal Conservative government must take immediate steps to deal with this crisis," Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president Buzz Hargrove said on January 11.

Statistics Canada released its monthly job numbers January 11 which show that the manufacturing sector lost 33,200 jobs last month. In the last five years, the study shows Canada has lost 348,000 manufacturing jobs, which it indicates occurred mainly in auto and auto parts, wood products and fabricated metal and furniture.

"At his meeting with the first ministers this evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper must take the opportunity to strike a broad dialogue with key stakeholders – labor, industry and all levels of government and set up a taskforce to address this issue. It's long past time that our federal government carved out a plan of action to deal with the crisis in manufacturing," Hargrove said. "How many good jobs must be lost before our government realizes working people are facing a crisis? The $1 billion fund Harper announced January 10 will not even begin to address the enormity of the problem."

Hargrove sent letters to each of the first ministers this week, urging them to press the federal government for serious action on the manufacturing crisis.

The CAW along with other unions launched a Manufacturing Matters campaign last January that has warned of the devastating impact of unfair trade which has resulted in a flood of Korean and Japanese vehicles into the North American market, as well as the crushing impact of the high Canadian dollar and federal government indifference to the plight of laid-off manufacturing workers and their families.