Automotive News Canada - February 2021 - 4

* F E B R U A R Y 2 021

GM's rapid charge to electrification

When the automaker
proposed a $1-billion
about-face to build
electric vans, Unifor
didn't want to 'gamble'
By JOHN IRWIN

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

UNIFOR PRESIDENT JERRY DIAS
wasn't about to risk the future of
General Motors' CAMI plant in
Ingersoll, Ont., when the automaker
made an unexpected offer eight months
before the two sides were to negotiate a
new contract.
" We're not gamblers, " Dias said.
" If we can get a $1-billion investment
that gets us into
battery-electric
vehicles, we're
taking the $1 billion. ... You have
to be pretty confident and you have
to be 100-per-cent
right if you tell GM:
'You know what?
You're going to
Bell: GM
have to wait until
needed to move
September.' "
Union and man- quickly so that
production of
agement would
the EV600 could
hammer out a deal
in seemingly record begin late this
year. F I L E P H O T O
time and position
the company firmly
on the road to electrification.
GM wanted to
begin producing
electric delivery
vans by November
to fulfill an order of
500 vans for FedEx.
" We knew we
needed to move
Dias: Wasn't
fast, and we needgoing to
ed a place to build " chance losing
them, GM Canada
the $1-billion
President Scott Bell investment
said on Automotive in CAMI by
News Canada's
sticking to
weekly podcast.
the original
timetable for
" Knowing that
contract talks.
CAMI [negotiations were] right
FILE PHOTO
around the corner
... we went to the union and asked if we
could get together here and talk about
a potential opportunity and not wait
until that opportunity passed us by. "
That meant fast-tracking bargaining, which began quietly on Jan. 4.
The process coincided with the automaker officially launching its new
BrightDrop electric commercial-van
and delivery business at CES on
Jan. 12.
Three days later, GM and Unifor
made an announcement that surprised much of the auto industry: The
two sides had tentatively reached a
three-year agreement that included a

$1-billion pledge to shift CAMI from
an assembler of the popular Chevy
Equinox crossover to electric delivery
vans.
The deal, overwhelmingly ratified
by Unifor members at CAMI on Jan. 18,
includes a pledge from GM to transform
the plant into a hub for BrightDrop,
GM's first new vehicle brand in more
than two decades. It encompasses a line
of electric commercial vans designed to
make the company a major player in a
lucrative and growing global market.

BRIGHTDROP'S CANADIAN DNA
CAMI will start building the
BrightDrop EV600 in November, initially in an unused part of the factory, while Equinox production continues. Once Equinox
production ends in
2023, the assembly
line will be converted to build the EV600
- and potential variants - full time,
according to Unifor.
Initial production
will begin to fulfill the FedEx order.
CAMI made sense for EV600 production in large part because GM's
technical centres in Markham and
Oshawa, Ont., have been intimately
involved in the BrightDrop project,
Bell said. Also offered is an electric
pallet - intended for easier transportation of goods to and from the van -
as well as fleet-management and software services. The idea for the pallet
originated at the GM Canada engineering centres, Bell said.
The $1-billion plan follows a recent
investment announcement of up to
$1.3 billion in GM's Oshawa Assembly
plant, which will begin building
Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra
pickups in 2022. Vehicle assembly
stopped at the plant at the end of 2019,
and aftermarket-parts stamping was
established.
The investment agreement between
Unifor and GM signaled a dramatic
change in a relationship that had been
mired in conflict. In 2017, Unifor organized a monthlong strike at CAMI to
back contract demands to have the
plant designated as the lead producer
of the Equinox. One of GM's top-selling
vehicles, the crossover is also assembled at two plants in Mexico.

GM's Scott Bell said CAMI is
expected to retain its current
staffing levels of about 1,900 even
though volume of the EV600 will be
significantly lower than that of the
Chevrolet Equinox the plant currently
builds. P H O T O : C H E V R O L E T

CAMI is one of three plants in North America currently building the Chevrolet
Equinox, but that will end in 2023. In the meantime, EV600 production will
ramp up in another area of the factory. P H O T O : G E N E R A L M O T O R S

The first order for the BrightDrop EV600 is from FedEx, which wants 500 of
the electric delivery vans. GM wants to begin building by November, hence
the earlier-than-planned contract negotiations. P H O T O : G E N E R A L M O T O R S

five EVs at its Oakville, Ont., assembly
plant by 2026. The investment, which
stemmed from Detroit Three bargaining last fall, saw Ottawa and Ontario
contribute $590 million - nearly oneThe strike ended only after GM
third of the overall costs and highthreatened to pull Equinox production
er than the 20 per cent government
out of Ingersoll.
backing typically associated with auto
A year later, the company
assembly investments.
announced plans to end vehicle
" This is a way to get GM in Canada
assembly at Oshawa,
on the electric side,
igniting an aggressive
which seems to be a
Unifor fight-back camhigh priority for the govpaign, marked by wildernment as well as the
cat strikes, blockades
union, " said Kristin
at GM's Canadian headDziczek, vice-president of
quarters and an internaindustry, labour and ecotional media blitz.
nomics at the Center for
Bell and Dias acknowlAutomotive Research in
edged the rocky relationAnn Arbor, Mich.
ship between union and
It also puts CAMI
management, but the two
on a more secure footsides agreed to bury the
ing because building the
past and secure a future
EV600 means the plant
for the Canadian opera " is not competing with
tions.
plants in Mexico any " We're at a point in
more. "
our collective history
It is unclear how
JERRY
DIAS
where there are opportumany EV600 vans GM
Unifor president
nities, and I'm not going
expects to build at CAMI
to allow the past to get in
annually. That figure
the way of them, " Dias said. " It would
will depend on orders from commerbe foolish for me and our organization.
cial customers such as FedEx, and
GM is a huge employer and they pay
business from other customers. In
well.
early February, GM announced it had
" I'd rather find a sweet spot and find
secured U.S.-based Merchants Fleet as
solutions for Canadians than fight with
its second customer, promising to build
them for no particular reason. "
12,600 EV600 vans for the fleet management company starting in 2023.
UNIFOR EXPECTED THE WORST
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic,
CAMI built 160,858 Equinox crossovers
Additionally, the union felt early on
in 2020 - down 11 per cent from a year
that fighting to keep Equinox producearlier - according to the Automotive
tion was likely a lost cause. The stakes
News Research & Data Center.
heading into negotiations " were incredGM has committed to building the
ibly high, " local union leaders wrote to
vans in CAMI for at least 10 years, Dias
members in a letter before the ratificasaid. He thinks GM is in a good position vote.
tion to capitalize on what is expected to
" With the combustion engine
be a growing market for electric delivEquinox program coming to an end, all
ery vans.
the elements were lining up in place for
GM Canada's Bell said the autothe worst-case scenario, " the letter by
maker expects to maintain the same
Unifor Local 199 President Joe Graves
level of employment at the plant -
and Plant Chairperson Mike Van
about 1,900 workers - after making
Boekel reads.
the permanent shift to van production.
The union's trust had improved,
Bell rationalized that production of the
however, with GM's decision to resurEV600 will be lower than that of the
rect the Oshawa plant, Dias said.
Equinox, but the EV600 is larger and
GM has said its investment in CAMI
therefore more labour-intensive.
is contingent upon funding from the
The investments in Ingersoll prove
federal and provincial governments.
that GM views Canada as an important
Talks were under way, though finanmanufacturing centre, he said.
cial support had not been announced
" We quickly got to the table and
by press time.
rolled up our sleeves, looked at opporGM " saw that the Canadian and
tunities and collectively came up with a
provincial governments, really for the
solution that made a lot of sense for our
first time, were being very active as it
company, " Bell said.
relates to electric vehicles, " Dias said.
" We never gave up on Canada, and
He cited government support for Ford
we never will. " - ANC
Motor Co.'s $1.8-billion plan to produce

GM is a huge employer
and they pay well.
I'd rather find a sweet
spot and find solutions
for Canadians than
fight with them for
no particular
reason.

Automotive News Canada - February 2021

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