“Company Town” Documentary about Oshawa GM, Airs Saturday

 

“Company Town, an independent documentary about the fight to save the General Motors assembly plant and thousands of jobs, will air on CBC television Saturday October 10, 2020 at 8 p.m. eastern time.

“When film makers requested behind the scenes access to the biggest fight our union has ever undertaken, we agreed that this story needed to be told,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Do we like how this story ended? Not one bit.”

On Nov. 26, 2018, General Motors made the surprise announcement to “unallocate” product at its Oshawa, Ontario plant, and move Canadian jobs to Mexico.

The film “features heart-wrenching personal stories” of Unifor members and “takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as the clock ticks down to the closure of the plant,” according to the film’s website.

It highlights one of three television commercials the union produced in a multi-media advertising buy that reached 22 million Canadians.

Film makers were in Oshawa on February. 14, 2019 when Grammy award winning artist Sting and the cast of his musical The Last Ship performed in solidarity with Unifor members.

In May 2019, Unifor held a joint news conference with GM to announce the footprint would be maintained in Oshawa, saving hundreds of jobs. The plant transitioned to parts manufacturing operations, producing service parts such as doors, hoods, fenders, tailgates, and deck lids, and more recently medical masks for Health Canada to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Unifor believes there are new business opportunities for GM to expand work to include past-model parts and production for other automotive industry customers and will never give up pushing for full auto assembly again in Oshawa.

Company Town airs at 8 p.m. on Oct 10, 2020 on CBC Television.