Lakeside Plastics gets $1M grant
Federal cash allows auto trim manufacturer to hire 60 people
A $1.1-million federal grant to Tecumseh automotive trim manufacturer Lakeside Plastics is being questioned by many of the company’s laid-off employees.
Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains made the announcement in person Wednesday and highlighted the money will allow the company to hire an additional 60 people.
“This announcement is about jobs, jobs, jobs,” Bains said. “It’s about supporting the autoworkers and it’s really about good quality middle-class jobs.”
He pointed out the importance of auto suppliers like Lakeside Plastics and their connection to the community.
“When we talk middle-class jobs, there’s nothing that better embodies those jobs right here than with these suppliers,” Bain said.
“It’s the ones that people can build their families on. It’s the ones that let communities thrive and succeed.”
But shortly after the announcement was made public, laid-off workers began sharing the story on social media and questioning their own status with the company.
Dan Clark, 37, of Windsor, was hired in September 2016 with funds from another grant for $1.28 million that the company received through the province’s Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. But by Christmas 2016, layoff notices were being issued, and by May 2017, Clark was still laid off.
“I was one of the last few to get my 90 days from that grant,” Clark said. “When I heard the announcement today, I was really mad. There are people there who have been working for seven years and are on layoff. People are pretty upset.”
Unifor Local 195 president John Toth said he was “surprised” when he heard the announcement about 60 new jobs. He believes the company is looking for long-term growth and having the ability to bring on more people.
“I’m hearing they are going to be bringing on engineers and skilled trades to try to develop this product and get the equipment ready to manufacture it,” he said. “But in terms of the hourly workforce, it’s not going to be an immediate turnaround. There is not going to be an immediate recall of people.”
Toth said there are more than 100 members of Unifor Local 195 laid off at the supplier.
“You really have to look at the bigger picture,” Toth said. “They are getting this money to invest in technology, new processes, new equipment, research and development and that will lead to new manufacturing. In the long term, we will expect that to bear fruit, in that they are going to get new contracts, they are going to be able to bid on jobs, and they will be awarded work, and that will result in the recalled workers being called back.”
The provincial funding in 2016 was to be used to purchase new machinery and equipment to expand the company’s capabilities and improve competitiveness. At that time, the province reported that the project had a total value of $12.8 million and was to create 55 jobs while retaining 305 positions.
In 2010, Lakeside Plastics received $2.5 million in tax dollars from the Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). Of that money, $1.5 million was to be used to expand the facility and $980,000 was to be used to purchase six injection moulding machines, according to the government’s news release.
Greg Merner, Lakeside’s vicepresident of human resources, said 38 callback notices were being issued to laid-off employees on Monday. He refused to confirm the number of people laid off, however, he said the current staff number is around 175 employees.
He said a large number of employees were laid off around Christmas 2016, which is common in the automotive industry.
“It’s a temporary layoff that we have issued, they’ve all been temporary,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to try to bring them back to work as soon as we can and right now we are doing it on a temporary basis.”
Merner said the 60 jobs announced on Wednesday by Minister Bains will be for new positions and that over the next couple of months the “plan” is to recall all those employees laid off and increase the staff numbers to 400. Merner said Lakeside Plastics is a sole supplier to General Motors, which has been experiencing a steady drop in production.
He said the company is looking to diversify its operations and is currently in negotiations with other clients.
Randy Pupulin, vice-president of engineering and program management at Lakeside, said the money will help with product design, the development of tooling and assembly processes, and the evaluation of new plastic resins, with an eye toward making lighter parts.
“It’s huge,” Pupulin said. “Our customers are after that technology. They want to remove weight from the vehicles in order to hit their fuel-economy targets.”
Lakeside Plastics is one of 11 companies in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia to share a total of $41 million to advance automotive technology. The grants are part of the $1.26 billion Strategic Innovation Fund, which is designed to attract and support high-quality business investments across all sectors of the economy.
The grant is part of a new strategic innovation fund, designed to help companies produce more environmentally-friendly products at a competitive price.
They are getting this money to invest in technology ... (and in) the long term, we will expect that to bear fruit.