Agoracom

General Motors Corp. plans to close its Windsor, Ont., transmission plant in 2010, eliminating about 1,400 jobs, the auto maker announced Monday as part of its negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers union.

“We have worked extensively with our labour and government partners but have been led to the unavoidable conclusion that there are no available replacement products in the relevant time frame for this location,” General Motors of Canada Ltd. president Arturo Elias said in a statement Monday.

The Windsor closing is the second major job cut announcement made by GM in Canada in just two weeks, following on the heels of a plan to eliminate a shift of workers and 900 jobs at its pickup truck plant in Oshawa, Ont., in September.

The plant in Windsor has been operating under a cloud of uncertainty for several years because no new work has been identified for it.

Even while announcing the shift elimination in Oshawa and the plant closing in Windsor, GM is seeking financial help from the Ontario and federal governments for new investment to assemble transmissions at an engine plant in St. Catharines, Ont., and to continue research and development operations at its regional engineering centre in Oshawa, Ont.

Those plans involve an investment of about $700-million.

The Windsor plant was opened in 1963 and assembles four-speed transmissions for Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Vue and Aura vehicles.

Pontiac G5 and G6 cars, Chevrolet Cobalts and HHR models also receive transmissions from Windsor.

Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove said last week that if GM does not invest in new products for Windsor and St. Catharines as well as the Oshawa truck and car assembly plants, his union will go on strike against the auto maker this September.