GM workers at CAMI auto plant ratify collective agreement

Unifor says workers at General Motors’ CAMI assembly plant and battery facility in southwestern Ontario have ratified a new collective agreement.

Unifor president Lana Payne says the new contract squeezes three years of wage gains into the two-year life of the deal, providing a 15 per cent wage hike for production workers and just over 20 per cent for skilled trades.

The union says the plant’s 1,300 autoworkers will receive an immediate 10 per cent pay bump followed by an increase of two per cent next September and three per cent in July 2026.

Payne says the agreement aligns employees at CAMI with the union’s negotiating timeline for the rest of the Detroit Three automakers, lending it more bargaining power for its 5,600 GM members in future talks that will take place simultaneously.

Workers at CAMI had delivered an overwhelming strike mandate, with 97 per cent in support of job action if an agreement was not reached.

Based in Ingersoll, Ont., the plant is the only large-scale electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Canada, building the Chevrolet BrightDrop EV 600 and EV 400.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press