Officials with the Canadian Auto Workers union Local 222 have secured a meeting with General Motors chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner in Detroit on Friday morning.

But local union president Chris Buckley says the blockade angry workers set up at the company's Canadian head office in Oshawa, Ont., will remain in place.

Buckley said he was disappointed union leaders couldn't meet with Wagoner on Wednesday.

Workers are hosting the demonstration to protest the closure of a truck assembly plant by the end of next year.

Earlier in the day, Buckley said the blockade would be in place for "as long as it takes."

At least 100 workers wearing red T-shirts with the logo "Made in Canada Matters'' formed the blockade at about 4:30 a.m. The size of the group grew throughout the day, and other local unions joined in as well.

GM decided to shut the building down for the day and send staff home. There are about 1,000 employees at the headquarters, and some worked from other locations or from home.

Production at the Oshawa plant and three other North American factories will be shut down next year in response to "a clear shift from trucks and SUVs toward cars and crossovers" among North American buyers, the company said.

All of the plants slated for closure assemble pickup trucks or sport utility vehicles.

GM said Tuesday the closure will eliminate 1,000 jobs in Oshawa, but union leaders said there are 2,600 people who will be out of work at the plant.

"We are demanding that General Motors reverse their decision to close their best truck plant in the corporation," Buckley told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday morning.

"At the very least, we're demanding that the General Motors executives sit down with us so that we can attempt to work through this."

David Paterson, vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs for GM Canada, said Wednesday morning the doors were "wide open" for talks. He said company officials were already on the ground talking to union leaders.

Paterson said the company shares in the frustration being felt by workers.

"We're clearly facing a really fundamental shift from trucks to cars in the marketplace and we're going to have to adjust to that," Paterson told CTV's Canada AM.

Buckley said the union is upset because they just finished bargaining a new three-year collective agreement, which was ratified two weeks ago.

"General Motors committed to us in writing that we would get the next generation of light-duty pickup trucks," Buckley said.

"As of yesterday, General Motors has betrayed us and that is bad-faith bargaining."

Gord Fitzgerald, who has worked for the automaker for more than 20 years, protested with his five-year-old daughter on Wednesday. Fitzgerald has two other children to provide for.

"It's the people that give them the quality, not the product, so give us a different product and we'll give them award-winning quality with that," he told CTV Toronto.

To help ease the transition, Paterson said GM is going to try to maximize the number of people who can move directly onto a GM pension.

"It's a much better way than moving people to layoff," he said.

Paterson said the final solution to the problem is to "produce the right kind of cars that people want to buy."

Buckley said workers were instructed to stay on the job Wednesday.

"I am telling my members in the workplace to remain on their jobs. I want my members to continue to build the best trucks in the industry and the best cars in the industry," he said.

"Let the local union leadership handle the situation."

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he sympathizes with the workers affected by the plant closure.

"I can understand where these men and women are coming from -- this is their livelihood," McGuinty told reporters.

"My assurance to them is that we will continue to fight as hard as we can for new investment in Ontario and we will also do everything we can to help them get back on their feet."

The premier says he will announce details in the coming days about the government's skills training plan for those whose jobs are at risk.

McGuinty said he remains optimistic that Oshawa will land more auto jobs in the future.

GM's shift in direction will see the company add more small, fuel-efficient vehicles to its roster. It also has plans to have the Chevrolet Volt -- a plug-in electric car -- in dealers' showrooms by the end of 2010.

The cuts announced on Tuesday should save GM US$1 billion a year, in addition to earlier cuts worth roughly US$15 billion.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Naomi Parness