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GM workers in Oshawa walk out in protest of plant closure

TORONTO/MONTREAL – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday expressed his "deep disappointment" in General Motors' decision to close its Oshawa plant, a move Canadian officials only learned about on Sunday and which led workers to walk off the job on Monday. GM said the closure affects a total of 2,973 assembly line jobs. GM's total employment in Canada is 8,150 direct jobs. Workers in the Unifor trade union walked out of the Oshawa plant "in protest," ahead of a meeting with GM about the announcement, a union spokeswoman said. "I've moved my family twice for this company and they do this to me," a tearful worker told CBC TV as he left the plant. Currently, the Oshawa plant builds the Cadillac XTS and Chevy Impala sedans. Under Unifor's four-year contract signed in 2016, GM must give the union a year's notice before closing the plant. The automaker intends to close the plant in December, 2019. A 2015 study commissioned by Unifor, which represents GM employees, estimated that shutting the plant would eliminate 4,100 direct jobs and reduce Ontario's gross domestic product by C$1.1 billion. But Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, said the move amounts to a breach of the automaker's contract with its employees. "We have a collective agreement that says they're not closing any of our facilities ... so we will do anything by any means to make sure that they live up to their word," Dias said at a news conference. Dias said the contract between Unifor and the company forbids GM from closing any of its Canadian plants during the contract period, which ends in September 2020. "They are not closing our damn plant without one hell of a fight." Canadian officials promised to aid auto workers affected by the 2019 closure, part of a wider restructuring by the automaker that will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce. "I spoke with GM (CEO) Mary Barra to express my deep disappointment in the closure," Trudeau tweeted on Monday. "We'll do everything we can to help the families affected by this news get back on their feet." GM workers have been part of the heart and soul of Oshawa for generations - and we'll do everything we can to help the families affected by this news get back on their feet. Yesterday, I spoke with @GM's Mary Barra to express my deep disappointment in the closure.

New presidential limo spotted in use for the first time

It has been a long lead-up to the new presidential limousine, but now it appears General Motors has "The Beast" in working order for President Donald Trump. The new limo was spotted in public for the first time this weekend in New York City in Trump's motorcade, reportedly on its way to Trump Tower. Said to have been in development since 2013, the $15.8 million armored Cadillac is making its debut as Trump's ride to the U.N. General Assembly this week. The grille suggests looks along the lines of a Cadillac CT6 V-Sport, but the similarities don't go much beyond that. If you look closely, Trump appears to be in the second "Beast" of the twin truck-based Cadillacs that go by in the video. The limo has a diesel engine to propel its near-20,000-pound self down the road, but we couldn't detect much of an oil-burner sound over those gigantic truck tires. This week in NYC will showcase motorcades and fancy presidential limos from around the world, all coming in for the big annual meeting at the U.N. Trump's presidential limos get shipped around the world too because they have their own plane: a C-17 Globemaster cargo carrier. There's no shortage of cool features on the new limo, and we detailed those here. While some of the awesome defense mechanisms are public knowledge, we're sure there are plenty that remain classified. New model presidential limo noticed awaiting Pres Trump at Wall Street heliport. Photo by @stevebruskCNN pic.twitter.com/lEytRcJ9rt — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 23, 2018 Featured video:

Cadillac could 'flourish' in Australia, says marketing chief

Cadillac might have its best product mix in recent history, and GM's luxury brand is looking to expand. In fact, it might even be making a trip Down Under, at least according to the company's global marketing chief.
Uwe Ellinghaus spoke with Australian site Car Advice at the Geneva Motor Show and said the brand could be quite successful there. "[The] goodwill that the Cadillac brand has is such a good starting base that once we get proper volume commitment and a dealer network behind it we can easily flourish," he said, though he warned that the plans are still in their earliest stages and years away. First, Cadillac will expand in markets with the highest possible sales, like China and Russia.
Ellinghaus said that the most likely models for Oz would be the SRX, Escalade and CTS; the latter would probably act as a replacement for the Holden Commodore. GM's Australian arm is ending local production in 2017, and there have been many rumors about what is happening to the big sedan. However, Ellinghaus admits exporting cars from the US to Australia is going to mean higher prices. In addition to the expense, Cadillac doesn't currently build any right-hand-drive models. It would likely take until the end of the decade before the Aussie models could be ready.