OSHAWA, Ontario (AP) -- A Canadian Auto Workers official who is angry over the job cuts planned by General Motors at its Ontario truck plant says politicians need to ''get up off their asses'' and end what he calls unfair trade practices.
CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley says the federal government allows foreign automakers to flood the market with imports but Canadian companies are shut out of those foreign markets.
Buckley says Canada will continue to ''bleed'' good paying jobs unless Ottawa acts.
Buckley's words follow a General Motors announcement Monday that it's eliminating 1,000 jobs in Oshawa, Ont., when it ends a shift at its Ontario truck plant. Other cuts were also announced for GM plants in Michigan and Wisconsin.
The latest cuts at GM's Oshawa truck plant, which makes Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full-sized pickups, comes on top of 1,200 cut last year when the No. 3 shift was eliminated. The plant will be down to a single shift, employing about 1,300 people, when the latest cut goes into effect.
GM said it was cutting shifts at the four truck plants at a total cost of 3,500 jobs because of slow sales for pickups and sport-utility vehicles due to high gasoline prices and a soft economy.
The company says the latest cuts mean it will make about 88,000 fewer pickups and 50,000 fewer big SUVs this calendar year.
The GM announcement came as the Canadian Auto Workers union gears up for contract talks to replace their current three-year agreements with the three Detroit-based automakers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
CAW national president Buzz Hargrove announced a tentative master contract agreement with Ford of Canada on Monday, just as word of the GM was announcing the latest cuts to its workforce.
The current provincial and federal governments have been at odds over what to do about Ontario's manufacturing sector, particularly the auto sector, with the Liberals at Queen's Park in favor of a more active role than the Conservatives in Ottawa -- including Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, a former Ontario finance minister who represents an Oshawa-area riding.
Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday that Ontario is still willing to invest with automakers to secure jobs, despite GM's decision to eliminate jobs in Oshawa plant, where the province invested $235 million.
McGuinty says it's no secret the province is in talks with Italy's Fiat, and is also in discussions with car makers in China, India and Germany about investing in Ontario.
The premier said Tuesday that he prefers direct investments over more corporate tax cuts, saying that a $5-billion cut in revenues would require cuts to health care and public education.
''I think the first thing you need to do in times of economic challenge is do no harm. So we're not going to cut public services that families need to be able to count on. And we will continue to invest in innovation, infrastructure and the skills and education of our people,'' McGuinty said in Toronto.
However, both Liberals and Conservative federal governments have ignored calls from the CAW -- Canada's largest private-sector union -- for trade barriers on imports from Asian countries unless they open their markets.
''I want to challenge our Canadian government to get up off their asses and start to give some attention to our declining auto industry, give attention to our declining manufacturing centre throughout this country,'' Buckley said Tuesday.
''Our government continues to turn their backs on auto workers in this country, continues to turn their backs on people who rely on good paying manufacturing jobs.''
In January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced says a $1-billion aid package to help communities and laid-off workers is ''not significant.''
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a $1-billion national fund to help communities and laid-off workers. But CAW president Buzz Hargrove said at the time that Ontario's $350-million share wouldn't be enough to help manufacturers cope with a high dollar, record energy prices and a slumping U.S. economy.
