Toronto, Ontario – Representatives of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) report that a closed-door meeting with General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner in Detroit did not sway the automaker’s decision to close its truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario.

GM plans to close the plant in 2009, eliminating 2,600 jobs, with production relocated to facilities in the United States and Mexico.

“I can’t accept the logic of GM’s decision to close the Oshawa truck plant,” said CAW president Buzz Hargrove. “Only two weeks ago we negotiated a new collective agreement with GM that outlined production continuing in the plant for many years. The market has not changed so much in two weeks to justify this outrageous decision by the company.”

Members of the CAW say they will continue their blockade of GM of Canada’s head office in Oshawa and will intensify it in the coming days. CAW national and local leadership and staff will meet following the CAW’s Collective Bargaining and Political Action Convention this week in Toronto to strategize about the next steps in the union’s efforts to have the plant remain open. Last week, J.D. Power and Associates said the Oshawa truck operation had one of the top quality ratings among plants in North and South America.