Pickup assembly to return to Oshawa plant
— Less than a year after what was thought to be the last Oshawa-made GM vehicle rolled off the line at the end of 2019, Unifor and GM Canada have announced they will restart auto assembly at the Oshawa GM plant in 2022.
The plant will manufacture light- and heavy-duty pickup trucks and the announcement means the return of up to 2,500 jobs and a $1.3 billion investment from GM in its Oshawa Assembly Plant.
Unifor national president Jerry Dias made the announcement on Thursday after the union settled on a new collective agreement with GM Canada in the early hours of the morning.
The union was in a strike position as of midnight, but negotiations continued past the deadline and Dias called the result “an incredible victory.
“The $1.3 billion will put in place a brand new body shop, will put in place a brand new assembly line, will fix up the paint shop,” he said. “We will be a complete assembly operation once again.”
He said the commitment will create a minimum of 2,000 jobs, including the existing after-market parts manufacturing, and will rise to 2,500 jobs.
“GM will start hiring our members back in August of 2021 and in January of 2022 the first heavy-duty truck will drive off the assembly line. In March of 2022, the second shift will be
put back into the Oshawa Assembly plant and in May of 2022 light-duty vehicles will start to roll off the assembly line.”
Dias added that there’s a “very strong possibility” a third shift will be introduced in July of 2022. He added that he expected the retooling of the plant to begin immediately.
“Yes we will once again be building Silverados and Sierras and with this investment we will be General Motors’ only plant globally that will have the ability and will build (both) heavy-duty and light-duty trucks. As we know these are General Motors’ best-selling vehicles.”
General Motors Canada president Scott Bell confirmed the
news via a statement.
“Subject to ratification of our 2020 agreement with Unifor, General Motors plans to bring pickup production back to the Oshawa Assembly Plant while making additional investments at the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant and Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre,” he said.
Dias thanked members and activists who fought to keep jobs in Oshawa and had a message for the community.
“We’ve been through some tough times in the past, but I’ll suggest to you we have nothing but bright times for the future. The message is to the young people, the children in Oshawa: you don’t have to leave our community because the jobs are going to be there for you in
the long term.
“I think about the jobs that are going to be created in the supply base, the jobs that are going to be created in Whitby and Ajax and I think about our members that lost their jobs that worked for GM in Oshawa and for the supply base around the community.”
The announcement means the 175 GM workers still on layoff from the Oshawa plant will be recalled and then the union will discuss bringing back younger workers who received severance from GM when the plant closed.
“Then, of course, we’ll reach into the community of Oshawa and certainly we will be hiring new young workers to the auto industry who have never been there in the past.”
Dias said he couldn’t put an exact number on the number of direct spinoff jobs at feeder plants, but he was expecting the return of the majority of the supplier jobs in the Durham area with the restart of auto assembly.
“There’s no question there’s a heck of a lot more jobs in the supply base than there is in main assembly and we’re talking about the complete assembly plant here, full body shop, assembly, paint, the whole bit and so especially in areas of bulk commodities, they’re going to have to be right by the assembly plant,” Dias said.
“You’re not going to be shipping seats from the southern United States or Mexico, they’re going to be built, assembled right there in Whitby, Ajax, Oshawa.”
In his remarks, Dias said it was important to keep jobs in the Oshawa plant even after auto assembly ended with the manufacturing of after-market parts so the plant wasn’t left empty for years.
“Today is an incredible victory for all of us. Today is a recomittment to the community of Oshawa from all those that are concerned and I have to say I’m honoured to be here today to deliver the good news.”
Unifor members will vote to ratify a new collective agreement on Sunday.