Dear Members,

This week, your UACL team made modest progress at the bargaining table.

Many items were discussed and some were agreed upon between the parties.

Additional dates are planned in the coming weeks, with the next round of talks scheduled virtually on April 12-14.

Thank you for your support and solidarity. Your bargaining committee will continue to communicate updates throughout the negotiations, including mobilization and solidarity actions in the coming weeks.

In solidarity,

Bell Atlantic Bargaining Committee

By Lana Payne, Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer

When Unifor members ratified new collective agreements with Ford, Fiat-Chrysler and General Motors in the fall of 2020, ushering in a first wave of large-scale battery electric vehicle assembly mandates, we knew something big was about to happen.

With EV sales set to skyrocket, these investments breathed new life into factories in Oakville, Windsor and Ingersoll, securing thousands of good, union jobs. As the global auto industry began its march toward electrification, Canada – for the first time, in a long time – was in the driver’s seat.

Of all the places in the world to build cars, only Canada boasts all of the necessary elements to succeed.  We are blessed with a full storehouse of critical minerals, an abundance of clean energy, established network of parts suppliers, renowned innovators, and arguably the most skilled and talented labour force in the world.

It made perfect sense for Canadian governments to double-down on the mandates we bargained, invest in this once-in-a-generation industrial transition, and commit to lead in this growing, EV space.

Last week, those efforts paid off – in a big way.

Stellantis and LG Energy chose Windsor-Essex as the site for its first ever North American battery ‘gigafactory’. This $5 billion joint venture facility marks the largest automotive investment in Canadian history, and the most consequential investment since Toyota built its last assembly plant in Woodstock more than a decade ago.

The projected 2,500 new jobs will bring opportunity to a community long recognized for its manufacturing expertise. They also bring new hope to a generation of workers who have watched the manufacturing industry decline, with plant closures, offshoring and mass layoffs.

Breaking ground on this 4.5 million square foot factory will go a long way to shedding that stigma and show that Canada’s industrial heartland has a bright future.

The positive effect of this announcement stretches far beyond Windsor-Essex too.

The plant’s 45 gigawatt-per-hour capacity could turn out enough batteries to feed at least two fully utilized auto assembly plants. This not only bolsters future prospects at the Windsor Assembly Plant for new EVs and hybrids, it may also signal a vote of confidence for Stellantis’ Brampton Assembly Plant – a vitally important Canadian auto facility that now has a stable, local supply of batteries, should it transition to EV production.

In fact, the plant will generate an additional 10,000 spin-off jobs, throughout the parts supply base and elsewhere in the economy.

More remarkably, this announcement was not the only bit of good EV news. Rather, it capped off an extraordinary month of rapid-fire, auto sector investment throughout Central Canada.

Solus Advanced Materials announced plans to build a new component parts facility in Quebec, supplying battery parts to Tesla.

General Motors, in a joint venture, announced plans to set up a cathode active material (CAM) factory in Bécancour, Quebec feeding its Ultium battery factories in the United States.  Just days prior to that, BASF committed to building its own cathode plant – not far from the GM facility.

Just this week, Magna revealed it is building a new $50 million parts factory in Chatham, supplying battery enclosures for Ford’s new F-150 EV pick-ups trucks.

All told, these additional investments will inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy – along with hundreds, potentially thousands, of new jobs.

What inspires me is I think this is just be the beginning.

Canada’s mining sector is set to grow in the coming decade, unearthing and processing the critical minerals needed to support this electrification shift.

Rumours about new EV products for Canadian assembly plants, continue to swirl. So too does talk of subcomponent work, electric vehicle motor systems, and the potential for more large-scale battery plants coming Canada’s way.

Whether all of these investment prospects pan out for Canada, is hard to tell. This is why Canada still needs a cohesive industrial policy to identify and advocate, as Unifor will, for every single bit of the EV supply chain investment we can get.

How we use this transition to advance job protections for autoworkers, and preserve collective bargaining rights, is another key – and a top priority for our union.

Ensuring this transition also supports efforts to promote greater diversity and workforce inclusion as well as reconciliation efforts, is imperative.

Despite the larger challenges, it is clear that Canada’s pivot to EV production is no longer a pipedream – it is happening, in real time.

What started as a bargaining table conversation by Unifor members in 2020 has revolutionized an industry and Canada’s hopes for a more sustainable future.

We write to update you on the charge that former National President Jerry Dias breached the Unifor Constitution.

Acting on advice from legal counsel, Unifor has delivered to Toronto Police the money that was given to Unifor in connection with the complaint that Jerry Dias violated the Code of Ethics in the Unifor Constitution. It will now be for Toronto Police to decide whether to investigate any matter connected to that money, and Unifor has no role in that decision. Unifor is not making further public comment on this matter at this time.

As communicated, Unifor obtained the funds in late January when it received a complaint that Dias had accepted money from a third-party supplier that he had introduced to employers of Unifor members.

An independent, external investigator determined that on a balance of probabilities the interaction with the supplier breached  Article 4, Code of Ethics and Democratic Practices, of the Unifor Constitution. This did not involve any Unifor finances.

Based on the findings, Dias now stands charged with violating the Unifor Constitution. As outlined in the Unifor Constitution, a hearing will be held before the National Executive Board (NEB) where Dias will be provided the opportunity to present information and arguments concerning the charge.

The NEB will meet in the near future to determine next steps for that hearing.

In Solidarity,
Lana Payne, National Secretary Treasurer
Renaud Gagne, Quebec Director
Naureen Rizvi, Ontario Regional Director
Linda MacNeil, Atlantic Regional Director
Gavin McGarrigle, Western Regional Director

OSHAWA—Unifor welcomes today’s announcement that federal and provincial investments for General Motors have been finalized and will help secure a third shift at the Oshawa plant and Canada’s first full assembly line retool to build electric commercial vehicles in Ingersoll.

“This is a proud moment for Unifor members at General Motors,” said Shane Wark Unifor Assistant to the National President. “Today’s funding announcement was years in the making and shows how much we can accomplish when autoworkers, automakers, and governments work together.”

The federal and provincial government have now finalized funding agreements of $259 million each as part of the General Motors $2 billion investment in both plants. The investments deliver on promises made to Unifor during consecutive rounds of collective bargaining negotiations with General Motors in 2020 and 2021.

In Oshawa, plans are in place to commence production of light-duty Silverado trucks and add a third shift at the plant this summer bringing the total number of direct jobs to 2,600.

“Adding a third shift at GM Oshawa is great news for workers and their families. These investments are vital to making our city, the region and the auto sector as a whole much stronger,” said Jason Gale, Local 222 Plant Chairperson in Oshawa.

The funding will also support the re-tooling of GM’s CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, which will become Canada’s first mass-market producer of electric commercial vans. Unifor members will begin assembling the automaker’s new line of BrightDrop electric delivery vehicles by the end of this year.

“CAMI workers are leading the way with Canada’s first fully electric vehicle assembly line. Today’s announcement means a very bright future for our members, our community and all of southwestern Ontario,” said Mike Van Boekel, Unifor Local 88 Plant Chairperson at CAMI.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

TORONTO–Striking Metro Distribution Centre workers will vote Friday April 8, 2022 on a tentative agreement reached between Unifor Local 414 and the company.

The more than 900 full-time workers at four distribution centre locations in Toronto’s west end began strike action on April 2 after voting to turn down a prior agreement.

The warehouse distribution centre locations in Etobicoke supply Metro and Food Basics grocery stores across southern Ontario along the Kingston – Windsor corridor.

Details of the collective agreement will not be released prior to ratification.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector and represents 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.