Latest news with #BrightDrop
Cision Canada
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Cision Canada
Trump policies stall Honda EV investment, further threatening Canadian auto jobs
TORONTO, May 13, 2025 /CNW/ - Honda's decision to stall a $15 billion electric vehicle supply chain in Ontario is the latest blow to Canadian autoworkers, as U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on the EV sector and cross-border auto trade continue to put Canadian jobs at risk. "Trump's rollback of EV policies and his punishing tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles are killing jobs week after week and threatening the future of our industry," said Unifor National President Lana Payne. "This isn't about fair trade — it's economic sabotage. The U.S. policy shifts are designed to bleed Canadian operations and push production south of the border. Workers, families, and entire communities are paying the price." Honda has delayed plans to build an electric vehicle supply chain in Ontario for "approximately two years". The original plan, revealed in April 2024, promised four new manufacturing facilities and up to 240,000 EVs built annually, including a new EV assembly plant and battery production facilities in Alliston. Just weeks ago, Honda was forced to publicly deny reports that it intended to shift current production from its Alliston plant to the U.S. in response to Trump's tariffs. Unifor does not represent workers at the Honda Alliston plant but does represent members in the plant's supply chain and takes any threat to Canadian auto jobs as a matter of grave importance. The move follows ongoing job loss in Canada's auto sector. Last month, General Motors paused production of its BrightDrop electric van at the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, quickly followed by announced plans to reduce a shift at Oshawa Assembly Plant this fall— both tied to Trump tariffs on Canadian-assembled vehicles. On April 3, the Trump Administration imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian-made vehicles. While Canada responded with matching tariffs, the U.S. has strategically spared Canadian-made auto parts, aiming to protect U.S. production while pressuring automakers to move assembly operations south. "These policies are designed to intimidate companies into abandoning Canada," said Payne. "But Canada is still an important market for vehicle sales outside the U.S. If automakers want to keep selling to Canadian drivers, they need to keep investing in Canadian plants." Unifor is urging the federal government to respond with bold action to defend Canadian auto manufacturing — including strong investment, job protections, and a clear strategy to support the EV transition amid growing U.S. protectionism and global competition, especially from China. Unifor is also calling on the federal government to revoke tariff-free privileges to any automakers in Canada if promised investment is cancelled or shifted to the United States. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 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.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Trump policies stall Honda EV investment, further threatening Canadian auto jobs
TORONTO, May 13, 2025 /CNW/ - Honda's decision to stall a $15 billion electric vehicle supply chain in Ontario is the latest blow to Canadian autoworkers, as U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating attacks on the EV sector and cross-border auto trade continue to put Canadian jobs at risk. "Trump's rollback of EV policies and his punishing tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles are killing jobs week after week and threatening the future of our industry," said Unifor National President Lana Payne. "This isn't about fair trade — it's economic sabotage. The U.S. policy shifts are designed to bleed Canadian operations and push production south of the border. Workers, families, and entire communities are paying the price." Honda has delayed plans to build an electric vehicle supply chain in Ontario for "approximately two years". The original plan, revealed in April 2024, promised four new manufacturing facilities and up to 240,000 EVs built annually, including a new EV assembly plant and battery production facilities in Alliston. Just weeks ago, Honda was forced to publicly deny reports that it intended to shift current production from its Alliston plant to the U.S. in response to Trump's tariffs. Unifor does not represent workers at the Honda Alliston plant but does represent members in the plant's supply chain and takes any threat to Canadian auto jobs as a matter of grave importance. The move follows ongoing job loss in Canada's auto sector. Last month, General Motors paused production of its BrightDrop electric van at the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, quickly followed by announced plans to reduce a shift at Oshawa Assembly Plant this fall— both tied to Trump tariffs on Canadian-assembled vehicles. On April 3, the Trump Administration imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian-made vehicles. While Canada responded with matching tariffs, the U.S. has strategically spared Canadian-made auto parts, aiming to protect U.S. production while pressuring automakers to move assembly operations south. "These policies are designed to intimidate companies into abandoning Canada," said Payne. "But Canada is still an important market for vehicle sales outside the U.S. If automakers want to keep selling to Canadian drivers, they need to keep investing in Canadian plants." Unifor is urging the federal government to respond with bold action to defend Canadian auto manufacturing — including strong investment, job protections, and a clear strategy to support the EV transition amid growing U.S. protectionism and global competition, especially from China. Unifor is also calling on the federal government to revoke tariff-free privileges to any automakers in Canada if promised investment is cancelled or shifted to the United States. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 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. SOURCE Unifor View original content to download multimedia:
Hamilton Spectator
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Hamilton Spectator
GM laying off hundreds of CAMI employees
General Motors is temporarily halting and then reducing production of the BrightDrop electric delivery van at Ingersoll's CAMI Assembly Plant. The union representing the workers said it is devastating for Unifor members, their families, and the entire Ingersoll were told of their fate last Friday and sent home. 'This is a crushing blow to hundreds of working families in Ingersoll and the surrounding region who depend on this plant,' said Unifor National President Lana Payne. 'General Motors must do everything in its power to mitigate job loss during this downturn, and all levels of government must step up to support Canadian auto workers and Canadian-made products.' Mike Van Boekel is the Chair of Unifor Local 88 and explained the news didn't come as a surprise. 'Our sales have been slow, and we've been doing rotating layoffs so every two weeks a shift would work then another shift would work, but we just got back to two shifts in February where everyone was back. Every month has been better, but not where we want or need.' He added GM thought they would hit a home run with the electric-powered vans, but despite a significant increase in sales year over year, Van Boekel said the product just hasn't caught on yet. Unifor and GM ratified a new contract in September of last year, meaning any employee laid off receives 70 per cent of their full wage. 'It's enough to keep food on their table, but it's tough to lose about a third of your wages and that lasts up to two full years depending on seniority,' explained Van Boekel. 'With young families, you take a third off and that hits pretty hard.' Unifor has started what Van Boekel called an action centre in the union hall when 80 members were laid off about five weeks ago. He added employees have options. 'That will get a lot bigger because we are going to add 450 people to it. We have already met a few times and will try to mitigate the layoffs and have packages available to entice people to retire or if people are on the fence and not sure they want to stay with GM, maybe give them some seed money to take a different direction if they want.' Van Boekel is hoping up to 100 employees will take retirement packages and added there are three distinct demographics at the plant. 'We have 165 of our most senior people left who can retire, and then there is a big drop down to 20-year people with hundreds of employees. The bottom group is between eight and 10 years. The bottom two are the largest numbers. The goal is to keep hiring.' One thousand truck sales per month would mean one shift can work full-time. 'Walmart in the US took 700 as a test fleet. They are telling us they want to make millions of home deliveries. It could lead to tens of thousands of orders, and those are the ones we need.' He added Verizon ordered 100 as a test fleet. IKEA is also looking at making more deliveries and is trying out some of the vehicles. 'Some of the bigger North American companies are trying them and we are in heavy talks with Canada Post, and they are looking at potentially 12 thousand vehicles over a couple of years.' Van Boekel said there have been ongoing conversations with GM, government officials and Unifor because the plant is large and has enormous capacity. 'They could get a little creative and try to figure out another product we could take that would fit into our plant. I know those talks are going on.' He added he is confident there is a market for the electric delivery van, and it can be built to order as an American company is looking to do just that. 'The truck is new, but we are getting good feedback from customers on markets we never thought of. We are going to bring the 2026 model ahead into May, that's why we are going back for two weeks. We have a huge customer who has our biggest order yet, and that is Kroger.' Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the United States and Van Boekel said the plant can add refrigeration units to the trucks and they ordered 1000 of them. 'That's going to be our biggest order, and it will be a test fleet for them. They are across every state and they are huge. We have other companies asking for a hard roof on them to attach ladders, piping, and all that for tradespeople.' He added a company in New York is turning the product into motorhomes. A local business owner also reached out to Van Boekel. '(Former EZT Mayor) Don McKay called me from Your Food Market in Woodstock and said they were looking for a delivery van. It would look pretty cool to have one driving around in Oxford County. We need more exposure.' 'My thoughts went immediately to those who will be directly affected at the plant and their families. The town is working with its partners to make sure the resources they need are available,' said Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie. 'I know that GM wants Cami to be successful and is committed to that. This is a very unfortunate situation.' Petrie added he is confident that GM will be producing vehicles in Ingersoll for a long time to come. 'We have a very skilled workforce that I would put up against anyone in the world and there is no other place in North America that can offer what Ingersoll can.' He also explained there are jobs available in the town for those looking. 'Unifor has an action centre that is a partnership with the federal and provincial government to help the workers who are affected, but there are other opportunities as well in the community. IMT recently expanded and has over 100 positions available. We are also expecting future industrial investments in the town that will also create opportunities. Unifor is calling on all levels of government to back Canadian workers, strengthen Canada's industrial strategy, and support Canadian-made products with procurement dollars. 'The BrightDrop electric delivery van is built in Canada by Canadian workers — it's the smart choice for Canadian business, government agencies and for our economy,' added Payne. 'Procurement and industrial policy go hand in hand. Now is the time for Canada to show leadership by investing in Canadian manufacturing.' Unifor said actions by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles and auto parts have sent shockwaves through the industry, creating uncertainty across the North American auto sector. 'The reality is the U.S. is creating industry turmoil. Trump's short-sighted tariffs and rejection of EV technology are disrupting investment and freezing future order projections,' said Payne. 'This is creating an opening for China and other foreign automakers to dominate the global EV market while the North American industry risks falling behind.' She added the world is moving rapidly towards electrification, and if Canada and the U.S. hit pause, the ability to catch up could be lost. Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Why auto insurance costs could rise due to tariffs and U.S. trade war
Within two weeks of U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs announcement, experts say Canadian auto insurers and vehicle manufacturers may not be able to recover from the damage done by levies. On Wednesday, federal Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne introduced a relief measure that allowed auto companies manufacturing vehicles in Canada to import a limited number of vehicles, compliant with the Canada-United-States-Mexico trade agreement, that are exempt from retaliatory tariffs. However, the number of vehicles a company is permitted tariff-free will drop if there are reductions in Canadian production or investment. The measures follow Trump's April 3 announcement of 25 per cent tariffs on all imports of automobiles to the U.S., with a partial carve-out made for vehicles built under the CUSMA. Ottawa, in response, put similar tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles bound for Canada. The tariffs by U.S. and Canada have stressed an industry already weighed down by rising costs of auto parts, manufacturing and natural disaster mitigation. 'It's going to create issues with the availability of products we need when people are getting into accidents, whether that's parts or replacement vehicles, the tariffs themselves and the Canadian tariffs,' Aaron Sutherland, vice-president for the Western and Pacific region for the Insurance Bureau of Canada said. 'That's adding significant cost pressures to the prices of auto parts, of replacement vehicles and ultimately that goes into premiums,' he said. Stellantis, General Motors and Ford have announced they have paused production to study tariffs, to resolve other problems, or to retrofit an existing plant. On April 2, Stellantis announced it would pause operations at its Windsor, Ont., assembly plant to observe the impact of tariffs for two weeks. The company had already paused retooling an assembly plant in Brampton, Ont., in late February, a refitting that was estimated to take two years and cost $1.3 billion. The company had said it plans to restart operations in Windsor on April 21, but has not said anything new about its Brampton retooling. The week after Stellantis' announcement, General Motors announced it was temporarily pausing production of its electric cube van, known as BrightDrop, that it had been producing in Ingersoll, Ont., due to market conditions and inventory. The company informed Unifor, the union representing workers in the auto industry, that they planned to initiate temporary layoffs, starting April 15, with some workers returning in May for limited production. The company added it would reopen the plant in the fall at reduced capacity, which Unifor states is expected to mean the indefinite layoff of at least 500 workers. In July 2024, Ford scrapped its own plans to retool its assembly plant in Oakville, Ont., to build EVs, stating it would instead produce large pickup trucks there. Despite a report in the Japanese newspaper Nikkei that Honda would be moving its production to the U.S., the company stated last week it will stay in Canada for the foreseeable future and continue manufacturing at full capacity. Toyota has confirmed the same. 'When we see companies like Stellantis pausing operations, or shutting down … that's going to create issues with the availability of the products we need when people are getting into accidents, whether that's parts or replacement vehicles,' Sutherland said, leading instead to higher costs absorbed by insurers to replace the parts. Currently, Alberta insurers have been set a rate cap of 7.5 per cent, including two per cent to account for natural disasters. But most insurers won't be able to put the cap into effect until July, according to a spokesperson for the Automobile Rate Insurance Board, or 12 months after the 3.7 per cent cap for 2024 was instituted. The higher costs incurred by tariffs places more pressure on insurers in excess of the prices they can charge customers, according to Sutherland. 'The Alberta government has already confirmed that insurers are losing 15 cents on the dollar for every policy they sell,' he said. 'What that means is you're seeing insurers unable to continue selling coverage in that province.' The last couple of years saw several auto insurance companies close their door on the province, citing claim costs that exceed profits and lack of profit growth. Zenith Insurance was among the first to leave in the summer of 2023, followed by Sonnet Insurance Company and Aviva subsidiary S&Y in 2024. Credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS last year characterized the province as being in an 'auto-insurance crisis,' despite the fact drivers in Alberta pay some of the highest premiums in the country. 'You're hearing more and more from customers who can't get the coverage, that they're seeing real challenges in that,' said Sutherland. And now the added pressure of the tariffs will 'further squeeze the availability of coverage in the auto insurance marketplace, unless the provincial government takes action to remove other costs from the system or allow insurers to reflect the cost of tariffs in their rates. 'There isn't any room to absorb the increased cost of tariffs.' The pressures are compounded by the uncertainty of the tariffs and Trump's changing stance on the measures, leaving businesses in both countries confused and frustrated by how to respond to changing prices and costs. One tariff that has remained consistent is that on steel and aluminium, according to Sutherland, which are both critical components of auto manufacturing and driving up costs. 'The longer those remain, the more expensive the price of repairs,' he said. 'And insurers today are unable to account for this in their rates and that isn't sustainable for any industry. It's making an untenable situation worse.' This isn't the first time the U.S. and Canada have warred on tariffs. The first Trump administration announced a similar round of tariffs on Canada in 2018, sparking a year-long back-and-forth until both countries agreed to lift them in May 2019. Should tariffs be lifted in the near future, 'the damage is still done,' Sutherland said. 'We're seeing clients shut down, we're seeing furloughing of work. And all that means is that product is going to get scarcer and more expensive. 'Even if tariffs were lifted tomorrow, a lot of these cross pressures are already built in at this point.' Alberta pauses some of its fight-back plan against the U.S. amid tariff dispute How Alberta's planned auto insurance overhaul stacks up against other provinces
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GM cutting employee hours at Rochester plant
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Additional changes impacting workers have been made at Rochester's General Motors plant. President of United Auto Workers Local 1097, Dan Maloney, told News 8 that 100 full-time employees were notified on Tuesday that they will be losing hours and moving to a shorter work week. Recent tariff changes, in addition to layoffs, have caused uncertainty among employees locally He added that the jobs are no longer needed due to an increase in EV sales elsewhere. 'The EV sales for General Motors are apparently flat or dropping off – one of our customers we deliver components to – the coolant lines for the battery packs is BrightDrop out of California, they've reported automated news they are laying off folks for five months. So… Canada… BrightDrop delivery trucks are out and then the factory zero in Detroit has laid off 200 people to make EV Silverados, and the electric Hummer.' Maloney said. In March, 26 employees were told they were being laid off indefinitely. MCWA discusses fluoridation during national debate From Christmas of 2024 to date, this has brought the total of part-time and full-time employees who have been laid off or had their positions scaled back at the plant to 200. 'People again are uneasy. They don't know what the future holds. And I don't think management locally in Rochester knows exactly what the future holds. There's definitely some uneasiness among the hourly workforce,' said Maloney. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
