Closed Sterling plant could be going green

Former Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas

A deal is in the works to turn the closed-down Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas into a green energy manufacturer, the area’s MP says.

A national Canadian manufacturer has signed a memorandum of agreement to share technology with another industry that develops green energy platforms, including solar energy, with the intention to manufacture at the St. Thomas plant, MP Joe Preston (PC — Elgin-Middlesex-London) said yesterday.

“We are not at the point where we can say it will happen,” Preston cautioned. “But memorandums of agreements have been signed. There is interest out there. It feels good. We have to start sharing any good news, anything that is positive.”

The new manufacturer has “elements of many different types of green energy,” but solar panel production is a big part of it, he said.

A future without Ford – the new reality

By Kyle Rea
St. Thomas Times-Journal
As fallout continues from the news that Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant will shut its doors in fall 2011, three of the biggest casualties locally — Southwold township, the Lear Seating plant and the Elgin-St. Thomas United Way — are taking a look at a future without the plant.
Last Friday, leaders of the Canadian Auto Workers union confirmed what has long been suspected, that the St. Thomas Ford facility will shut its doors in September, 2011, as the company looks to phase out production of the large cars manufactured there — the Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Grand Marquis. When that happens, 1,400 people will lose their jobs.

Ford’s closure of St. Thomas assembly plant to affect thousands of spinoff jobs

TORONTO — The impact of the closure of a Ford assembly plant in southwestern Ontario will extend far beyond the plant itself, costing the region thousands of spinoff jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue, according to union officials and local politicians.

Ford (NYSE:F) announced Friday the plant in St. Thomas, near London, will close in 2011 due to a lack of demand for the full-sized sedans it produces.

The closure of a major manufacturing facility can be disastrous to the region in which it’s located, and Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza estimated that 6,000 spinoff jobs will be lost above and beyond the 1,400 workers directly employed by the plant.
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Ford turns up nose at unprecedented offer to save St. Thomas Assembly Plant

In a last-ditch effort to save the St. Thomas assembly plant, the province and Canadian Auto Workers made offers of cash and unprecedented concessions — but Ford Motor Co. said no.

The province offered as much as $150 million and the union told the company to cherry-pick details of any collective agreement and put it on the table, CAW national president Ken Lewenza said yesterday.

“(Ford of Canada vice-president) Joe Hendricks told me directly he could not get a better deal from any government than the one the Ontario government was prepared to put in front of Ford Motor Co. He was clear about that,” Lewenza said. “They were prepared to do more than any jurisdiction in the world. The Ontario government was prepared to be a major player.”

Instead, Ford will close the St. Thomas assembly plant in September 2011, cutting 1,600 jobs.

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St. Thomas Assembly Plant … “it is not looking good”

The future of the St. Thomas assembly plant was discussed yesterday and the automaker repeated there is no product for the local plant after 2011, Lewenza said.

The Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car are produced at the plant.

“We want St. Thomas to be extended, but that product line is being phased out. They have capacity all over the place. It is not looking good today.”

Ford did emphasize in talks yesterday it has made significant investments in Windsor, reopening an engine plant next year, and has added a fourth vehicle to its Oakville assembly plant.

“They indicated to us . . . Canada has been a key player in Ford’s success, but there is no product to allocate.”

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CAW emphasizes importance of new Ford contract as negotiations resume

The main issue in the ongoing negotiations on this side of the border is the future of an assembly plant in St. Thomas, Ont.

Currently, the 1,600-employee plant builds the Ford Crown Victoria, the Lincoln Town Car and the Mercury Grand Marquis – all full-sized cars, demand for which is limited to niche markets. The Crown Victoria is only included in sales of fleets, such as those run by police departments and taxi companies.

Ford has said repeatedly that it has no plans to manufacture vehicles in St. Thomas beyond 2011. Lewenza has suggested Ford could increase production at its other Canadian plants to offset the closure of St. Thomas, but Ford won’t release any details on its plans.

“We’ve asked them to take a look at where existing work is being sourced and see if there’s a possibility to source more work into our workplaces and those are the options we’re going to have to talk about (this) week, but to be honest we haven’t made much headway,” Lewenza said.

Ford spokeswoman Lauren More said the company doesn’t discuss future production or product plans for competitive reasons.
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NDP Leader Andrea Horwath slams McGuinty’s Navistar inaction

Queen’s Park
date: October 19, 2009 – 4:00pm

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is slamming the McGuinty government for doing precious little to prevent Navistar from moving truck production from Chatham to Mexico, despite a massive infusion of public dollars.

“More than $60 million of hard-earned taxpayers’ money has been shovelled into the Navistar truck plant in Chatham,” said Horwath during today’s Question Period.

“As a thank you to Ontarians for their generosity, Navistar has shifted production to Mexico, and laid-off all of its 1,200 Chatham workers. When will this government stand up to Navistar and demand it live up to its obligations to Ontario workers and Ontario taxpayers?” she asked.

Horwath added that it appears the McGuinty government has pretty much given up on holding the company to account for its actions.
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CAW won’t agree to strike ban in new Ford deal

Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza says Ford Canada shouldn’t expect the same concessions that Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) won in recent talks with its union in the United States including a ban on strikes over wages or benefits.

“Obviously we watched the U.S. negotiations closely with the UAW because of the competitive challenges we have from one country to the other,” Lewenza said in an interview Friday.

The CAW says Ford Canada intends to slash its Canadian manufacturing presence from 13 per cent to eight per cent of total North American production. Ford currently has no plans to build vehicles at its St. Thomas, Ont., plant beyond 2011.
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Times are tough for (almost) everyone

By Ben Eisen
Policy Analyst
Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Working for the Canadian government has been a sweet deal for a long time. In addition to job security, outstanding benefits and generous pensions, federal employees are paid, on average, much higher wages than workers in other sectors of the economy.

Although most people know that government workers are highly paid, it is less well known that the gap between government employees and everyone else has grown steadily over the past 20 years. The growth of government salaries relative to the rest of the economy is a costly trend which, if it is not stopped, represents a serious threat to Canada’s long-term fiscal health.

CAW Under pressure to make deal with Ford

Pressure has shifted to the Canadian Auto Workers union after Ford Motor Co. struck a concession-laden deal with the United Auto Workers.

Canada must remain competitive with its U. S. neighbour to maintain automotive investment and the union must look at bringing Ford’s labour costs here in line with its American workers — as well as GM and Chrysler — or risk losing jobs, Ken Lewenza, CAW national president, warned Wednesday.

“There is serious pressure. We should not underestimate that we always measure ourselves against the Americans. We always have, we always will,” Lewenza said.

“They are better positioned now than we are,” he said of the UAW deal. “If we do not get an agreement, it will be disastrous.”

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Ethanol subsidies a useless boondoggle

Ethanol is the gift that keeps on giving – but only to corn-growers and opportunistic automakers. For taxpayers, however, it’s a dream that failed and a rat-hole down which our governments keep pouring our tax money. This useless boondoggle must stop.

Last week, CanWest News Service reported on a government memo that says clearly that Ottawa’s costly effort to promote E85 fuel – industry shorthand for 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent ordinary gasoline – will do no good.

In fact, we believe the whole push for ethanol – produced mainly from corn in Canada – will bring no actual reductions in total greenhouse gas emissions, but will cost taxpayers $2.2 billion in federal subsidies, plus more from provinces, especially Ontario.
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Ontario’s economy cannot prosper without a vigorous manufacturing sector

Formet Industries, St. Thomas

Posted by Ian:
Thanks to Serge Lavoie for the heads up on this positive look at this region’s manufacturing base. With plants and factories shuttered the length of South Edgeware and the Ford plant teetering, let’s hope that indeed the industrial engine is just idling.
So, here is the key question posed by the Toronto Star:

Without a revitalized manufacturing base, Ontario has little chance of a healthy economic recovery that delivers the good jobs and high productivity we need for sustainable prosperity.

So a key question as we face a federal election some time in the next 12 months is which party, Conservative or Liberal, can deliver the most effective manufacturing strategy for the province.
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Small towns contributing to their own demise

An exodus of young people seeking education, adventure and success in bigger cities, combined with economic upheaval that has left little opportunity for those who stayed behind, has resulted in a dramatic “hollowing out” of North America’s small communities. And worse, by not adapting to this new reality, small towns are playing a big part in their own demise.

Other regions and communities have created incentives designed to draw back their educated young people. Aniko Varpalotai, a professor specializing in rural education at the University of Western Ontario, says St. Thomas, the town she lives in just outside of London, Ont., has used tuition relief and housing benefits to entice several of the medical students who passed through its hospital to stay. In different areas of the U.S., Carr found free land programs, student loan forgiveness and attempts to improve cultural amenities.

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