Peterborough GE plant with lethal legacy closing down

“We grew up there. Our parents worked there. Those memories are huge,” said Sue James, who worked at the plant for 30 years, as did her father before her.

James’s father Gord died of lung and spinal cancer, diseases his family believes were caused by the toxic substances he worked with.

A Star investigation last year highlighted the plight of former employees who say years of exposure to chemicals in the factory led to hundreds of cases of cancer or other illnesses.

GE maintains that health and safety have always been its “number one priority” and that the company has “always followed the best health and safety practices based on the best knowledge available to us at the time.”

It was reduced demand for products that drove the decision to close the Peterborough plant, according to Kim Warburton, vice-president of communications and public affairs for GE Canada. The plant will cease manufacturing, but will retain about 50 engineers onsite, she added.

“It’s really about global demand,” she said. “In the last four years, volume at this plant has been down 60 per cent.”

Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett said his “immediate concern is for the workers and the families” affected by the closure.

“It will be a difficult time for many residents who are connected with GE or who have historical ties to this company,” Bennett said in a statement.

He vowed to meet with the area’s MP and MPP to discuss government assistance to secure the community’s economic foundation.

Once the city’s single largest employer, GE Peterborough made everything from diesel locomotive engines to turbines to hydro generators. The plant was the major economic driver in a region where more than half the population once worked in manufacturing. Now about 10 per cent of the city’s workforce is in manufacturing.

“That is the last of manufacturing in Peterborough of any size,” James said. “GE was sort of the last one standing … It’s devastating news for the community and Peterborough, there’s no doubt about it.”

Since 2004, workers at the plant made some 660 compensation claims to Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for a range of occupational diseases. Some 280 were accepted, but more than half were withdrawn, abandoned or rejected because of apparently insufficient evidence that the conditions were work-related.

A comprehensive report conducted by private-sector union Unifor later concluded that working conditions at the factory between 1945 and 2000 played a significant role in an “epidemic” of work-related illnesses among employees and retirees.

The Ontario government has since vowed to do the “right thing” for former workers, including additional funding for the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, which is helping GE retirees compile compensation claims. The details of that funding have not yet been announced.

James says retirees are growing frustrated by the wait.

“People are getting to the point where they can’t take the stress anymore,” said James. “It’s just been such a long fight and a long struggle.”

Warburton said the decision to close is unrelated to compensation claims.

“These are two completely unrelated matters,” she told the Star. “The decision on the plant today is based on volumes and not having the work.”

“(It’s) an ongoing process with the health claims and legacy issues,” she added. “We’ve participated in that process for a number of years with WSIB and other agencies we will continue to do that.”

In line with manufacturing plants across Ontario, GE’s Peterborough operations have slimmed down significantly in recent years. In January, the company announced it was laying off 150 employees as a result of a drop in volume orders.

“I am saddened and disappointed to learn that GE will be ceasing manufacturing at its Peterborough facility. My thoughts are with the affected workers, their families and our community, and I am determined to work with GE to ensure employees are supported,” said MPP Jeff Leal, whose father worked at the plant for 40 years.

Warburton said the company does not currently have plans to sell its Peterborough site, which occupies several acres in the city.

The plant will operate for another year so the company can honour existing orders, she added, and will provide transitional support to departing employees such as skills, job training and retirement planning.

“Manufacturing has taken quite a hit in today’s day and age with robots and precarious work,” said James. “It’s just a changing world.”