Ford plant closing one more blow for St. Thomas

ST. THOMAS — The Ontario town that bills itself as the Railway Capital of North America survived the demise of the great railways. Perhaps that is why the 36,000 inhabitants of the Elgin County town are stoic about their latest challenge, the imminent closing of Ford’s St. Thomas Assembly Plant, located in the nearby hamlet of Talbotville. On Monday, the last of a 27-year-long line of Ford Crown Victorias will pass through the body shop. At the end of the shift, the workers in that department will put down their tools, clean up their workstations and walk out the factory’s main doors for the last time. On Tuesday, the paint shop crew will follow suit.

www.guelphmercury.com...

I am pretty surprised at this, I honestly thought Ford was doing the best out of the big three, but it seems 27 closures out of 28 looks like Ford is headed towards tough times

reply to post by hypr2011


Having been a former Ford employee, I can tell you they will close a plant at the drop of a hat. And thats after the union made all kinds of concessions for them. They want to pay people as cheaply as possible but don't stop to think ...if everyone is making low wages, how are they to afford paying for the cars Ford makes? People will buy used cars and cheap cars they can afford if they make low wages. Or even just plain do without one.
I really doubt if Ford cares what its doing to a community just like all the other big 3. Sorry to hear its happening to you guys too.

Yea, Oshawa pretty much died when GM got hit in the recession, but jobless rates in Canada are rising now due to the economic uncertainty with that shutting down, it could affect Linamar Corporation in Guelph because they manufacture parts for cars and lawn mowers.

I don't know what sort of effect they will have on Linamar or if they deal with Ford or not.

Originally posted by Dimithae
reply to post by hypr2011

 

Having been a former Ford employee, I can tell you they will close a plant at the drop of a hat. And thats after the union made all kinds of concessions for them. They want to pay people as cheaply as possible but don't stop to think ...if everyone is making low wages, how are they to afford paying for the cars Ford makes? People will buy used cars and cheap cars they can afford if they make low wages. Or even just plain do without one.
I really doubt if Ford cares what its doing to a community just like all the other big 3. Sorry to hear its happening to you guys too.

my friend you said a mouthful and hit upon a vitally important point: paying people sufficient wages so they too may have pride in ownership of a fine motor vehicle. that mindset was pioneered by Henry Ford so long ago, and it was brilliant in it's cold common sense logic. what a sad thing that years later Mr.Ford's company people forgot a lesson so many learned.
i've owned 2 new vehicles in my life, both Fords, Made in Canada. 1984 EXP and a 1994 Ranger. it breaks my heart to see what has become of what was once a great domestic automobile country. Plymouth was such a great working man's car in the day. my wife owned one of the earliest Saturns, we still have our 3rd Saturn in the driveway. that would have been traded up/in on #4 but my wife darn near had a heart attack when a salesman lifted the lid of their SUV to reveal a HONDA powerplant. and now it's just memories.
screw em' all. i'm saving up to buy a motor scooter.

So many jobs being lost in Ontario. So many Canadian employers reducing full time jobs to part time or temp. Pretty soon Ontario will be a slave wage state.

Originally posted by metaldemon2000
Pretty soon Ontario will be a slave wage state.

Has Canada been invaded by extreme right-wing conservative politicians recently??

A 'slave wage state' has already been in effect in the conservative southern states in the USA. With their Union-hating, fair-wages-hating, anti-American-worker extreme-conservative-devils down there. Work 6 times harder in the conservative south for half the pay...

But give the wealthy lots of tax breaks, and free rides. Good ol conservatives.

The poor deluded citizens in the 'bible belt' keep voting them in because they are COMPLETELY MESMERIZED by politicians who say they are Christians. The folks down there EAT IT UP and the devils know this. Poor deluded folks. Keeps them voting against their best interests to which slaves they will ALWAYS be...

Masters and slaves...

Poor fools.

yea the liberals or fiberals as I call em, say they will get more full time jobs going in Ontario, the sad thing is that there is no such thing as a full time job any more as companies don't want to pay benefits anymore, my friend was complaining about the low wages at his full time job, and the company didn't pay benefits, it is due to the fact some companies can't afford to do that especially the smaller companies. Linamar isn't the bet either apparently if one is making too much money from them, they will get rid of them.

A response to the above poster, yep Stephen Harper, but Ontario has mostly been liberal, but my worry is if we get stuck with McGuinty again.

McGuinty and his Lie berals are a bunch of crooks. In fact I don't trust any of the parties in this country anymore. Bring back the rhinoceros party any day.

well NDPS platform wasn't popular because a lot of people didn't like unions, but I found Layton to be very likable and he was always there for the people and the small business. I know a few people who had him as a professor in Toronto and they said he was a very nice person to talk to.

I just hope people in Ontario for the elections next month, will get their priorities straight and at least figure out that McGuinty's platform is not doable nor feasible as it will dig Ontario deeper

As I've said, Canada is nothing more than the world's biggest remora fish. And once the shark finally dies I shall say a prayer for the maple leaf nation.

reply to post by Dimithae


The world economy is morphing. The companies are targeting other markets that are experiencing more growth and have more potential for opportunity. This is smart on their part. It sucks for us.

Although we continue to push forward and hope for a better opportunity and change in this country the only thing we have to truly depend on is our own innate creative ability and problem solving skills on a local level to overcome the incoming hardships my generation faces communally.

reply to post by onequestion


By offshoring jobs and reducing workforces the companies are actually ruining the economies that made them what they are. Even if they want to tap into new growth markets they shouldn't by allowed to destroy the ones they are currently a big part of.

Now that we are in a global economy the rules should change on how corporations are run. I don't see this happening until we have global govt though.

The most I see is Canada going the way as the US soon and we will all be having to brush up on our Chinese.

reply to post by hypr2011


This is true. Canada takes all the stuff that was proven to be a failed venture in the us and then tries the same thing thinking we can do better.

Dummies.

You failed to mention that ford is opening a new facility which will create 5,000 jobs soon;

IN INDIA

reply to post by HangTheTraitors


Politics 101 there are no right wing or left wing. There are no liberals, or conservatives. It is all NWO globalists out to destroy. It like ordering coke do you want diet coke or zero coke? Its still coke.Until people unplug from the propaganda machine and face the reality we are on a one way road. DOWN!!

Originally posted by metaldemon2000
reply to post by onequestion

 

By offshoring jobs and reducing workforces the companies are actually ruining the economies that made them what they are.

Considering that only 38% of Apple's sales come from the US, not really.

If there are no banking or economic firewalls between countries, someones' local crisis will always become our global crisis. And if low labor costs are available somewhere else, jobs will shift there.

Western countries are exporting their way of life, manufacturing, jobs, software development, intellectual capital, education, etc.. We''re already starting tol export the production of food, clothing, and shelter. What's next, will we further slow our reproductive rate and depend on immigration to keep us running, like Japan?

I wonder if the Neanderthals complained about homo sapiens the same way.

Originally posted by Dbriefed
Western countries are exporting their way of life,

You mean like creating wealth out of thin air?

reply to post by eldard
Hey, we're not just the land of opportunity, we're the air of opportunity.