They repeat the words as if they were in a foreign language or like they can't quite understand what they mean. "General Motors warns it could run out of money by next year."
It's certainly hard to fathom that sentence at first or even at second glance.
The biggest company in the world made that stunning pronouncement on Friday, hours after confirming it had suffered
staggering losses totaling $2.5 billion in the third quarter. The news means drastic cost cutting has already begun, with GM chopping 3,600 jobs across North America. Five-hundred of them will come at its Oshawa plant starting in January.
The cuts will be temporary - for now. They come on top of 400 job eliminations announced a few months ago.
The news has cast a pall of gloom and fear over the city that depends on the automotive industry to survive. And many aren't sure they'll be able to.
"I'm in my 50s now so I don't know what there is for me," worries one GM employee, who has only been there for 6 years.
"I have young kids. I'm concerned about, you know, bills, payments," adds another. "If this place does close up, where are you going to go?"
Others worry about how it will affect future generations.
"My kids and everybody's kids have to try and survive on $10 an hour jobs because they're never, ever going to be able to own their own house on a $10 an hour job," one man points out. "I think there is a possibility if it goes bankrupt, and if it does, there's going to be a lot of people in trouble.
"I didn't think this day would ever come."
The union is equally fearful, pleading with the government to step in before the engine of the economy sputters and dies.
"I am absolutely scared, absolutely scared," admits CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley. "On behalf of my members in General Motors, I can't stress enough the seriousness of this situation. It's bad news all around, and again I can't stress enough our government must react. If our government continues to turn their backs on this crisis, our auto industry is going to disappear."
He predicts the middle class could go, too, if GM goes broke.
The industry group representing GM, Ford and Chrysler in Canada is asking for new aid from the provincial and federal governments. The Prime Minister's office says Ottawa will consider the request, but only if it amounts to a short term solution and is affordable in tough times.
In the meantime, with the holiday season now just a month away, there are fears the words "Merry Christmas" will be ringing hollow in thousands of homes across the province, as GM - and maybe Santa - both face a long and devastating layoff.