A deal has been reached to build electric delivery vans in Ontario.
General Motors Canada (NYSE:GM) has reached a tentative deal with autoworker union Unifor that will see the automotive manufacturer invest $1 billion to transform its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario to make commercial electric vehicles.
The deal still needs to be ratified by Unifor’s membership. Unifor President Jerry Dias said that, along with the significant investment, the agreement between GM and the union will mean new products, new jobs and job security for autoworkers in Ontario.
In a statement, Dias said that more details of the tentative deal will be presented to Unifor Local 88 members at an online ratification meeting. The results of the ratification vote are scheduled to be released Monday night.
The Ontario government issued a statement over the weekend praising the deal as "good news" for the provincial economy.
A GM spokesperson said in a statement that the plan is to build BrightDrop EV 600s — an all-new GM business announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that will offer a cleaner way for delivery and logistics companies to move goods.
The growth of online shopping has increased demand for electric vans. BrightDrop's first customer is FedEx, which will begin receiving GM's EV600 electric vans in the second half of 2021.
General Motors’ Ingersoll plant currently makes Chevrolet Equinox SUVs. Unifor said the contract would bring total investment negotiated by the union to nearly $6 billion after new agreements were ratified with General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler in 2020.
General Motors last November agreed to a $1.3-billion investment to bring 1,700 jobs to Oshawa, Ontario, plus more than $109 million to insource new transmission work for the Corvette and support continued V8 engine production in St. Catharines, Ontario.
