Oshawa, Ontario — Unifor president Jerry Dias announced Thursday morning that the union had reached a tentative agreement with General Motors (GM) that will see the Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant reopen.
Dias said GM will offer between $1 billion and $1.3 billion to allow Oshawa to once again build the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado double cab pickup trucks. The plant had been shuttered in December 2019 after a long-winded
The first shift will begin in January 2022, while the second will start the following March. Dias said by July 2022, he plans to have a third shift at the plant. Retooling of the plant will begin immediately upon ratification by Unifor members.
The plant will employ about 2,000 workers at a minimum working on two shifts, with up to 2,500 workers if the third shift comes to fruition in 2022.
Dias anticipates hiring to begin in August 2021, with the first vehicle rolling off assembly in approximately 14 months.
The first motion to be made, said Dias, will be to recall Oshawa’s 175 currently laid-off workers. Following that, Dias said the union will reach out to the community to hire “new young auto workers.”
The government has not yet made any agreements to support the deal between GM and Unifor, though Dias said he will certainly be approaching the government seeking investment.
With Unifor’s negotiations with the Detroit Three—Ford, Fiat Chrysler and GM—the union has negotiated more than $4.7 billion in investments for Canada’s automotive industry.
“I can say with complete certainty that Canada’s automotive industry is alive and well,” said Dias.
The agreement is planned to be ratified on Sunday, November 8.
