We’re nearing week three of GM Canada workers’ strike at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. As predicted, the strike’s end is nowhere in sight.
The major casualty of the strike? 2018 Chevrolet Equinox supply, which has dwindled to a 41-day supply of 43,453 units after Unifor workers walked off the job over job security concerns in the bargaining process. Automotive News reports GM has downplayed its inventory issue and said it will work closely with dealers to ensure customers receive the exact Equinox they seek.
GM’s sales picked up in September, and the market is forecasted to ramp up further through the fourth quarter of this year. A lack of hot-selling Equinoxes puts GM in a tough situation.
“That’s going to be hard on Equinox to compete on such a limited quantity in such a hot segment,” said Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst and director of pricing and industry analysis for Edmunds.com. “We would expect sales to pick up in the last quarter of the year.”
Sales of the 2018 Equinox jumped 80 percent last month to 27,512 units sold in the U.S., highlighting the compact crossover’s popularity.
For workers at the CAMI plant, the strike can end quickly if GM meets one major demand: make the CAMI plant the lead Chevrolet Equinox assembly. Workers remain concerned about job security after GM pulled the GMC Terrain from the facility and moved production to Mexico. Hundreds of jobs were lost with the production reallocation.
The latest updates from the union paint a bleak picture, however. Both sides are reportedly far apart on the issue.
Comments
Canadian workers want the Equinox built in Canada. GM wants to build the equinox in Mexico. Sounds very easy to solve GM should compromise and meet them halfway and build The equinox in the USA.
In solidarity USW!
Reagan fired all striking air traffic controllers in 1981, as federal workers are not allowed to strike, shouldn’t that apply to GM workers, too, as the outfit is currently owned in part by the government?
…and the quality of air travel has declined, ever since.
They have slighted that plant, I would be pissed too. Ps- the 9speed should be in 1.5T Equinox too.
General Motors Mary Barra needs to play hardball with Canada and Unifor especially when Equinox builders in Mexico earn the equivalent of $1.00 USD per hour (reported on AutolineTV) meaning the profit margin for a Chevrolet Equinox built in Mexico compared with one built in the CAMI facility in Canada is staggering.
Then everything should be built in Mexico using that logic? Who would be left in North America making a decent wage to buy a new vehicle , or anything else.
Why does that make me think of china?
I have same car different year good car don’t get me wrong but the ignition sucks sometimes key won’t turn over to start got it fixed and still the same thing looked it up just to see I’m not the only one having that same problem and still no recall my car is in perfect condition only thing is that
Starting October 2, General Motors’ Ramos Arizpe facility in Mexico will dedicate two shifts, six days a week, to build Chevrolet Equinox at around 34 units each hour, an output which is expected to increase in the near term.
I’m the proud owner of a 2018 Equinox AWD Premier “Assembled in Ontario”.