The production line at General Motors’ Cami automotive assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., is expected to get rolling again in November, but it won’t be anywhere near capacity, according to the union representing employees.
Mike Van Boekel, chairperson of Unifor Local 88, said GM told the union last week that the plant, which has been closed since May, will see one shift begin to churn out electric delivery vehicles again.
“One shift, but it’s going to be at a slower line speed,” he told Global News on Tuesday.
There are more than 1,200 workers at the plant, which has been producing electric delivery vehicles since 2023. It is expected that just over 500 employees will be recalled.
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Van Boekel said a combination of slow sales and the ongoing trade war with the U.S. has led to the move by GM.
“Volumes dictate our production and sales, although they are picking up each month, they’re not … where they need to be to keep everyone working.”
Van Boekel said the union is working with GM to entice some of the employees who are at retirement age to hang up their work boots, but that would not be enough to keep everyone else employed.
“We don’t have a lot, we’ve got about 120 left in that situation, so that’s not going to save a lot, but … for every job it saves, it’s one more person working, so we’re trying different ideas.”
GM’s BrightDrop and EV battery plant in Ingersoll remain closed as well, which the union attributes directly to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We make batteries cheaper than anybody and better quality, and it looked like we had a good avenue to keep shipping batteries to the states, but that’s been shut down too,” Van Boekel said.
“And that’s 100 per cent because of tariffs.”
On April 3, the United States introduced 25 per cent tariffs on auto imports from both Canada and Mexico, where automakers have fluid cross-border supply chains.
Global News has reached out to GM Canada for comment but has not received a response as of publication time.
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