Automotive News Canada - September 2020 - 13

12

* S E P T E M B E R 2 020

Senior Hyundai tech has gone from hot to cold
By JIL McINTOSH

get qualification. I was there
for years, but then Goodyear
got out of automotive and I got
laid off."
He went to Great
Dane Trailers as a
welder but wanted
to get back to cars.
In 1997, Ramnarine
answered an ad for
his job at Hyundai.
"I love it because I
get to see the future of
the company and the
stuff that's coming
along the pipelines.
We check for things
that may go wrong and make
it better before the car goes
into production."

OSHAWA CORRESPONDENT

PRIM RAMNARINE

LOOKING FOR PROBLEMS
SO DRIVERS DON'T HAVE ANY

WHEN YOU GROW UP IN
Trinidad and Tobago, it's a
bit of a shock to go to northern Quebec for winter-vehicle
testing. But Prim Ramnarine
just packs his heaviest coat
because that's part of being the
senior technician at Hyundai
Canada.
Most of the time, he's at
company headquarters in
Markham, Ont., where he and
his team of two work with the
quality assurance and administration departments on preproduction cars, company
vehicles, lease programs and,
occasionally, customer cars
with problems beyond the
dealer level.
"Prior to a model being
released, Korea will send a
few [vehicles] and a team
of engineers, and we do
our cold-weather testing,"
Ramnarine said. "Or if there's
a recall, they send us the part,
and we do real-world testing.
We want to make sure everything runs right in our climate."
Ramnarine, 58, learned
automotive engineering in
Trinidad "because I had that
passion growing up. Anytime
something was broken in the

Prim Ramnarine is in contact
with Hyundai in the United
States and South Korea for
continual vehicle quality
improvement.
PHOTO: HYUNDAI CANADA

house, I got blamed. So I fixed
it even if I hadn't broken it,
and I got hooked on that."
Trinidad suffered a recession and hiring freeze after
Ramnarine completed an
apprenticeship, and he came
to Canada in 1989.
"At that time, the Ontario
government did not recognize certificates from foreign
countries," Ramnarine said.
"I started with a Goodyear
store as a fifth-year apprentice
and went to night school to

KEVIN ADAMS

JOBS FOR WORK TODAY
AND HOPE FOR TOMORROW

EVEN IF AN AUTO PLANT IS
mostly shuttered, someone has
to look after it. Kevin Adams,
an electrician with Robinson
Solutions, helps maintain
General Motors' facility in
Oshawa, Ont., along with the
nearby headquarters and technical centre.
The Oshawa plant ended
vehicle assembly at the end of
2019 and has been converted
into a stamping plant with a
reduced workforce.
Adams, whose employer
handles all maintenance tasks,
is also the building maintenance Unifor chairperson for
Local 222 in Oshawa.

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"My regular job involves
work orders for any electrical
maintenance that's required.
Please send nominations
I also deal with union matters
for the Unobvious Ones to:
and meetings, and
jil@ca.inter.net
we just finished contract negotiations
this last March."
Adams, 36, decid"We represent over 90 per
ed to become an
cent of Alberta's franchised
electrician when his
new-vehicle and heavy-truck
father said, "The
dealerships," Kubin said. "I
trades can't be taken
have to maintain our dealaway from you."
er roster list, and I work with
He apprenticed
the board of directors to orgain a private shop
nize and prepare meetings. I
and then joined the
also work ...with our controlunion, which occasionally
ler to maintain our financsent him on jobs at Oshawa
es, the deposits
Assembly. When a
and cheques and
company successinvoicing and credfully bid on the facit cards. A typical
tory's maintenance
day is a little bit of
contract 11 years
everything."
ago, Adams applied
Kubin, 57, got
and was hired. When
a job out of high
Robinson Solutions
school as a receptook over the contionist and then
tract, Adams went
spent 22 years as
along with it.
a branch admin"This really
istrator at a rentbroadened my horial equipment comzon," he said. "I
pany. Wanting a
always did conKevin Adams
change, she went
struction [jobs].
literally keeps the
to an Edmonton
And it's one thing
lights on at GM's
wealth manageto see work when
operations in
ment and brokerit's all new, and
Oshawa, Ont.
age firm as executhat's different
PHOTO VIA
tive assistant to the
from troubleshootKEVIN ADAMS
president.
ing and repair.
"After a year, I thought
Every day you're seeing differwealth management wasn't
ent things."
where I wanted to be, so I
When the union chair came
found the job posting at MDA.
open, "I had a union backI met with Denis, and I've been
ground, and younger memhere nine years and really
bers asked me to take it on. It
enjoy it."
was another learning curve,
She was unfamiliar with
but Local 222 offers coursautomotive, but "I had a
es and gives you the knowllengthy work history in a proedge and support. We don't
fessional background and have
have the future of pensions,
communication skills, and I'm
so it was important to me for
outgoing and a quick learnthe younger labourers. I want
er. That helped me to move up
them to have apprenticeships
and want to do better.
and training. I fought hard
"When our members and
for that, and now we're going
associates call in, they get me.
through our first batch of
Denis has the automotive and
apprentices.
government experience, so I
"During the [Oshawa plant
forward the [auto] technical
closure], we lost a third of our
questions to him, and I assist
employees. And at our peak,
him with the government
we had 65 people. We're hopeitems. Everything else, I hanful it'll get more material or a
dle. I learned on the job, and
product. The more they build,
that's the best way." - ANC
it's a bigger footprint for building maintenance."

EMAIL YOUR PICKS

DENISE KUBIN

TOP-NOTCH OFFICE SKILLS
KEEP AN ASSOCIATION GOING

CAR DEALERS NEED
news and information, but it
has to be the right news delivered at the right time. At the
Motor Dealers' Association of
Alberta (MDA) in Edmonton,
Denise Kubin makes that happen.
As executive assistant
to MDA President Denis
Ducharme, Kubin takes care
of office administration, adds
website content and creates
and distributes a monthly
newsletter. She also prepares
and sends news alerts via
email to members, keeping
them updated on a variety of
subjects, from training courses to fraud.

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Although she was
unfamiliar with automotive,
Denise Kubin said her
professional background
provided the right skill
set for joining the Motor
Dealers' Association of
Alberta. P H O T O : M D A

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http://www.autonews.com/powertraining
Automotive News Canada - September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - September 2020
