'It's scary, no doubt about it': How former GM workers coped with their plant closure

After nearly 30 years at the General Motors plant in Windsor, Ont., having been employedthere all of his adult working life, Duncan St. Amour was left with one terrifying question when its closure was announced: What do I do now?

It was 2008 when it was revealed that the transmission plantwould be shutting down in two years, with about 1,400 workers, including St. Amour, set to lose their jobs.

"It was like a bomb;I was in shock," said St. Amour, who had done a series of jobs at the plant, including on the assembly line."I did not know what I was going to do."

Today, he can relate to the 2,500 GM workers in Oshawa, Ont., many of whom are likely experiencing those same emotions of fear and panic after learning this week that the car manufacturerwould be closingthe assembly plant next year.

Sleepless nights

The Windsorshutdown was a devastating blow toSt. Amour, who,at 48, felt his job prospects were bleak. With a family to support, it led to some sleepless nights.

But he said he brainstormed and came up with a plan to start a business, to "be in control of my fate, my destiny."

St. Amour started a bin rental company thatdrops off and picks up waste-disposal bins. And while striking out on his own was challenging and difficult, his company has since become a success.

"But I had to go out there and hustle," he said."You got to come up with a good, viable plan. This is what it's all about."

Tony Sisti, also affected by the GM plant closure in Windsor,was 50 at the time. He said it took him at least a year to figure out his next steps.

'It's scary, no doubt about it'

Sisti took a course about opening a small business and learned how to put together a business plan, and that led to him becominga workplace safety consultant.

"It'sscary, no doubt about it. There's a lot of workers that I talked to who were afraid, [who said] 'I don't know if I can do it.' So I just say: Listenman, you've got to put your best foot forward."

Heather McMillan, the executive director of the Durham WorkforceAuthority, a labour organization in the region where the Oshawa plant is located, said that once the initial shock of being laid off wears off, there are some great employment opportunities in the area.

McMillanherself is a former autoworker, born and raised in Oshawa,who was laid off around 10 years ago.But she was able to transition to the job she currently holds.

"We do have employers, overall, saying that they're looking for workers, that they don't have workers for what they need," she said. "We can start to see very quickly that these workers could transition into other things within the local community and probably not need to leave the community."

In theregion, she says there are currently some opportunitiesin transportationand logistics, as the area hosts several food-distribution hubs, including aLoblaws warehouse, and the Port of Oshawa, a national deep-sea port.

Academic upgrading

Layoffs can also represent a chance for academic upgrading, McMillansaid, which would broaden the potential for employment in other sectors. She knows of several autoworkers who have gone back to schoolto take on lower-level jobs in the medical field, for example, or to work aswater-treatment technicians.

But takingtimeto goto college to upgrade skills may not be so simple, saidWayneLewchuk, with McMasterUniversity's school of labour studies.

"Even taking a year off,it's a challenge," he said. "The mortgage still has to be paid, et cetera."

The labour market is not kind to people who are leaving jobs mid-career, Lewchuksaid, particularly those with the kind of skills held by the majority of workers at the GMplant, whoareassemblersworking on lines.

"Interms of what they can take [from] those skillsand transfer to other sectors Idon't think there'sa whole lot for a lotthem."

GM's plant closure announcement does comeat a time when Canada's unemployment rate is hovering around a four-decade low, employer demand is strong, and there's growth in the manufacturing sector,saidBrendonBernard, an economist with the job search site Indeed Canada.

Auto manufacturinghas fewer jobpostings on averagethan other areas of the overall manufacturing sector, he said, noting that openings are more plentiful in such fields as machinery manufacturingor fabricatedmetal production.

"So these industries offer a sort of next step, potentially, for workers affectedby the GM closure," Bernard said.

"Ithink that the concern is that the auto sector still pays quite well.So whileaffected workers mightbe able to find jobs, chances are they're not going to be as well paying as what they're leaving."