[Muscle Master]

General Motors union workers affected by the automaker's decision to close four truck and SUV plants continue to voice their displeasure as CAW members blocked the entrance to GM of Canada's headquarters in Oshawa, Ontario. General Motors announced Tuesday at its annual meeting that it would be shuttering the doors of four of its truck and SUV plants due to sagging demand — including its Oshawa truck plant.

In addition to the loss of about 2,600 jobs, the CAW is upset because it feels GM broke a recently inked agreement to keep the Oshawa plant open. "We are going to stay here until General Motors reverses the decision they made yesterday, or at the very least commits to a product for the Oshawa truck plant, or sits down face-to-face with this union to try to explain why they have broken our brand new agreement," Chris Buckley, of the Canadian Auto Workers union, told Automotive News.

In the CAW contract inked last month, GM pledged to boost Canadian production and even promised production of the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid to the Oshawa plant. Those hybrid trucks will now be made in the U.S. or Mexico.

However, even with the national contract, the CAW doesn't really have a leg to stand on. Last month, sales of the Chevy Silverado plummeted 44 percent and the GMC Sierra saw a sales decline of 33.9 percent. It seems the CAW might have a pretty tough time convincing GM to produce two vehicles that nobody wants to buy anymore.

General Motors announced yesterday at its annual meeting that it will be shuttering the doors of its Moraine, Ohio plant, but union workers at that plant don't plan to just go away quietly. Although plant workers say the news wasn't shocking, they still plan on fighting the closure.

"We anticipate having additional meetings, sitting down and talking about contractual issues, meeting with the international union to see where we go from here and what can be done," Gaylen Turner, president of IUE-CWA Local 798, told Automotive News. Local 798 represents about 2,300 workers at the Moraine plant — which produces the Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7X.

However, there is little hope GM will keep the Moraine facility open as the bottom has dropped out on the truck and SUV markets. Along with the closure of the Moraine plant, GM also announced the closure of three other truck and SUV plants.

As of Monday, over 300 workers at the Moraine plant have already taken "special attrition packages."

The Moraine plant lacked any future product plans beyond 2010, and it is likely GM will permanently close its doors in 2009 or 2010.

things are looking bad again