GM CAMI Assembly Plant Workers Relying On Food Banks To Make Ends Meet
6
Sponsored Links
Some GM workers at the GM CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario, Canada are using food banks to provide meals for their families after lengthy idling of the facility and difficulties in obtaining the back pay they’re owed, according to other people working at the facility.
CTV News London quoted a worker at CAMI Assembly who has a co-worker “waiting for back-pay for so long that they had no money for groceries,” skipping their own lunches and using food banks to feed their children.
Most workers at the CAMI Assembly facility underwent a year-long layoff while The General retooled the plant for production of the BrightDrop Zevo 600 light commercial EV van in place of the original Chevy Equinox crossover production.
The retooling itself was complete in seven months, described as “the fastest-ever plant conversion for GM” by the automaker, but a lengthy period for a layoff from the perspective of employees. Rolling layoffs continue as GM recently idled the plant and its approximately 1,500 workers as a result of a shortage of EV batteries. The plant will start assembling its own battery pack modules next year.
While there are plenty of significant orders for the BrightDrop Zevo 600 van on the books, battery raw materials are lacking and a bottleneck resulted. Even before the current shutdown, the plants three shifts of workers were each working two weeks, then undergoing four weeks of layoff before returning to work for two more weeks, and so on.
Labor regulations add another layer of difficulty, with most workers unable to receive Employment Insurance (EI) payments from the government because all benefits were used up by the previous year-long layoff.
Many workers are also unable to easily access back pay from GM, while the automaker requires an Employment Insurance denial letter for each worker every two weeks as proof of eligibility for “top-up pay.” A local union representative said the EI administration is “swamped,” making obtaining such letters lengthy and difficult.
The news report says some CAMI workers are organizing donation programs to buy groceries and pay bills for those currently without money. One group, Camily Funds for Food, collected donations from 500 people for the relief of CAMI employees unable to afford food.
While the current production halt is expected to end on July 31st, Unifor Local 88 chairman Mike Van Boekel remarked that attempting “to raise a family and buy groceries and pay a mortgage payment when there’s no income for six weeks can be darn tough.”
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM CAMI Assembly plant news, GM production news, GM business news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Sponsored Links
One plant and not typical. Most workers are overpaid.
Overpaid. You’re a clown. You wouldn’t last a few hours and you would be crying to leave.
They have been laid off for the better part of 3 years at this plant. The contract has not been followed at all and the company and the union are making side deal after side deal and many people within the plant that are still laid off and have to bow down to the Generals every ridiculous command are struggling and the food bank is a real thing for them. You can do your own research and find the post on the union website if you are so inclined to do so.
Not even close to describing the situation. Their wages are fair, Comada is not. Inflation is high in trudeau’s canada and despite the pay they are owed in their contract, its not outpacing the cost of living up there.
We all need to pray for canada before the become Venezuela.
Just because you make more then others doesn’t mean you have to spend it all . Most auto sector jobs are well above other factories pay scales. Heard a lot about that when Ford closed in St Thomas and the GM locomotive plant in London. Neighbors and friends employed at these places, always new cars , boat, cottage and extravagant vacations. If you cant plan for tomorrow on your wage then I don’t know what they think they are going to do for retirement. Myself , turned 60 during pandemic but as a $25/ hr mechanic forced into retirement am sitting here, 3 mortgage free house enjoying a cold one on the deck. PS….. I know the younger hires at these factories are not as well paid as the older guys were
Greedy CAW union 1973 killed the GM plants in Windsor….London ,Oshawa and ST. Catherine’s workers take note.