Following a tentative agreement reached last week, the Canadian labor union Unifor has ratified a collective agreement with GM. The agreement covers 1,300 workers at the General Motors CAMI Assembly and Battery Assembly facilities in Ingersoll, Ontario. The General Motors CAMI facility is responsible for the production of the Chevy BrightDrop EV 600 and EV 400.
The new agreement’s primary achievement is a significant and immediate pay increase for workers, plus improvements to income security provisions, pension plans, a shorter window for wage progression to the top pay rate, and a bonus for full-time employees. Unifor Local 88 members voted 95.7 percent in favor of ratifying the agreement.
Unifor Local 88 Master Bargaining Committee
“For the first time Unifor has successfully negotiated a two-year contract term that will align CAMI members with the union’s Detroit Three negotiations to combine the future bargaining power of more than 5,600 GM members,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement. “Never again will CAMI members have to wait to play catch-up on wages and benefit improvements.”
The new CAMI contract brings the factory workers’ pay more in line with other Canadian manufacturing plants for the Detroit Three. It compresses three years of wage gains into the two-year life of the agreement, which expires on September 20th, 2026. It provides a 15 percent wage increase for production workers and 20.25 percent for skilled trades. Workers get a 10 percent pay increase immediately, plus a 2 percent increase in September 2025 and a 3 percent boost in July 2026.
“CAMI workers have been trailblazers in the EV transition and our bargaining committee was determined to bring home the wage increases, pension improvements and income replacement measures to protect them during this evolution and position them for the future,” Unifor CAMI Plant Chairperson Mike Van Boekel said.
Notably, General Motors recently announced that it was moving its all-electric BrightDrop commercial vans under the Chevrolet umbrella, framing the move as an expansion to the Chevy EV portfolio. BrightDrop was previously a wholly owned GM subsidiary but was later fully integrated with GM as part of the GM Envolve commercial sales division.
Comments
lol exactly what my prediction was in the last article about this. If those line workers went anywhere else with the skills they have they would be ‘line’ workers making burgers at McDonalds.
Good for them, as long as they are chuckling at this deal knowing they are overpaid. Huge tax payer Provincial incentives is the only thing keeping their jobs here
ROFL! So,you couldn’t get hired there,either,eh?
when you use the word “either” as you have, it implies that you also couldn’t. so you’ve successfully insulted yourself.
“ROFL” indeed.
Here come the Union workers with their downvotes. They can click a *thumbs down* icon but can’t muster up a rebuttal.
Imagine the impacts if everyone got a 20% wage increase… $40 big mac.
I’d rather be a proud union member than a corporate boot licker. CEO wages have gone up almost 1,500% in the last 45 years, while worker wages have remained stagnant when adjusting for inflation. Blame the “$40 Big Mac” on the corporate greed and not the person behind the counter who can’t afford their rent.
Wonderful news, more overpaid, underworked Union employees to help raise the cost of GM vehicles.
Just what we need.