Canadian autoworkers have voted 85% in favour of a new three-year contract with General Motors (NYSE:GM) that will bring back production at the company’s Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant.
The deal between GM and Unifor, which represents the unionized autoworkers, covers 1,700 workers in St. Catharines, Oshawa and Woodstock, Ontario.
General Motors' planned new investments under the agreement will include $1 billion to $1.3 billion in Oshawa to bring back production of pick-up trucks, as well as $109 million in St. Catharines to support added engine and transmission production and $500,000 in operations at the Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre.
General Motors Canada President Scott Bell said he expects the investment to be "significant" for Canada's economy because it "will happen fast and generate thousands of new jobs."
Demand for pickups remains strong and accounted for more than 40% of GM Canada's sales this year. The deal was the final agreement to be negotiated between the union and the big U.S. automakers.
Unifor said the GM contract follows the pattern-setting deal first reached with Ford that includes five per cent increases to hourly rates, a $7,250 productivity and quality bonus, $4,000 in inflation protection bonuses, improved benefits, shift premiums, and restoration of a 20% wage differential for skilled trades.
The agreement also means that GM workers will have a new racial justice advocate in the workplace, and access to 10 paid days of domestic violence leave. Earlier deals with Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) also included promises of billions in new investment in Canada.
In a separate announcement Monday, GM said it will hire 3,000 more technical workers across the company by early next year, including 500 to 1,000 remote workers, as well as jobs in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ontario and Texas. The company said the jobs will be filled before March 30, 2021.
Ontario is home to GM's Canadian Technology Centre, its largest software engineering and development centre for GM outside the U.S., as well as its Kapuskasing Cold Weather Development Centre and its McLaughlin Advanced Technology Track.
