LONDON, Ont. -- Union officials say General Motors is cutting up to 600 jobs at its assembly plant near London.

Mike Van Boekel, spokesman for Unifor Local 88, says the layoffs will take effect in July at the CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll.

The plant employs 2,800 Unifor workers.

GM Canada said it gave Unifor advance notification of how product changeovers would affect workers at three Ontario plants, adding it will continue to work with the union to help manage the adjustment.

The Ingersoll plant builds the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain.

Van Boekel says the move was announced Friday morning and is directly linked to the company's decision to shift production of the GMC Terrain to Mexico.

“I’m shocked, it’s an absolute embarrassment on behalf of GM,” said Van Boekel.

Van Boekel added that the layoffs came out of left field and will hit the community very hard.

"We have been working every Saturday for six months. Plus we've been working Sunday production for the last four months. We can't keep up. Eight years of every single Saturday over capacity and now six weeks later they move the products to Mexico?"

GM did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Unifor National president Jerry Dias placed the blame on current trade agreements.

"This is NAFTA at its worst. This is exactly what we've been talking about. This is the exodus of good Canadian jobs to Mexico and at some time or another, we're going to have to put a stop to it.Dias says the decision "reeks of corporate greed" and is a clear sign that NAFTA must be renegotiated.

GM Canada says it gave Unifor advance notification of how product changeovers would affect workers at three Ontario plants, adding it will continue to work with the union to help manage the adjustment.

When asked whether layoffs were in the works at other Ontario facilities, a spokeswoman said that Friday's announcement related only to "an employment impact at CAMI due to the changeover of older model Equinoxes to the next-generation Equinox."

The Ingersoll facility builds the Chevrolet Equinox and the GMC Terrain.

The company recently announced it was shifting production of the GMC Terrain to Mexico.