Achi news desk-
OTTAWA –
Canada’s auto industry is experiencing a renaissance as it transitions from building gas-powered to battery-powered vehicles, but some are raising the alarm about protecting local jobs.
Southern Ontario has become a hub for foreign automakers who have invested tens of billions of dollars since 2020 to build electric vehicle battery plants, with help from the federal government in the form of tax credits and subsidies.
As the federal and provincial governments subsidize that growing industry, union leaders, federal Conservatives and the NDP are demanding assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he will ensure jobs go to Canadians.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Construction Labor Union called on Trudeau to intervene at the NextStar battery plant in Windsor, Ont., owned by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution.
The union said Canadians are being sidelined in favor of temporary foreign workers.
He said in a letter to Trudeau that 180 skilled workers in the region remain unemployed even though they are available to perform work that has instead been assigned to newcomers.
It is “displacing brass workers” the April 10 letter reads, “by large multinational corporations thumbing their noses at the Canadian government, taxpayers and our skilled trades workers.”
NextStar Energy and the federal government both say foreign workers account for just 72 jobs at the plant, and specialized equipment is being installed that Canadians will then be taught how to use.
Still, the union’s executive director, Sean Strickland, said those are tasks Canadian workers can already handle.
“We have 1,600 Canadian workers on the job site today, and we hope to keep it that way during the next phase of this project, where work will turn to equipment installation,” Strickland said in a statement.
“We are still able to provide the skilled labor required to carry out this work.”
On Thursday, Trudeau was in Alliston, Ont., to announce the latest multi-billion investment in electric vehicles.
Honda is set to build a battery factory next to its assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles as part of a $15 billion project.
Trudeau sidestepped a question about whether the deal with Honda includes specific protection for Canadian workers.
“Really the investments that we’re making, whether it’s with NextStar, or here with Honda Motor Co., it’s all about creating great jobs for Canadian workers, and that’s really what’s being accomplished,” said Trudeau.
The company says there will be 1,000 new jobs associated with the project.
But at this point, there has been no guarantee that existing Honda workers in the community will be able to transition to the new jobs, said the national president of Unifor, Canada’s main auto union.
“We need to make sure we protect workers in any way we can,” said Lana Payne.
When an automaker transfers its current operation to an EV factory, that can affect up to 30 percent of jobs in assembly plants and the auto parts sector, Payne says, which is why it’s important for governments to secure existing footprints the workplace.
Unifor has lobbied the federal and state governments to include protections for workers in their contracts with automakers that ensure income security, job security and the right to form a union.
Honda currently employs over 4,000 people in Alliston. They are not a union, but workers have held talks about joining Unifor.
“For workers who do not have the benefit of a union, it is vital that the government makes sure those workers are protected through the transition, working with employers to make sure they have the guarantees that, especially when government investments are made. ,” Payne said.
The Conservatives have demanded to see contracts the federal government has made with automakers, saying Trudeau cannot be trusted to protect Canadian jobs.
“We’ve seen before where Justin Trudeau announces massive subsidies that are supposed to create jobs in Canada, only to see him turn around and let those jobs be filled by foreign exchange workers and then lie about it,” said Sebastian Skamski, spokesman for Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, said in a statement.
“We cannot trust that his latest announcement of $5 billion in Canadian taxpayer money to another large multinational corporation will be any different.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has also called on the Liberal government to stop writing “blank cheques” without ironclad guarantees for union workers.
“We need to have guarantees baked into any public dollar we spend, and they should be tied to jobs and investments that benefit Canadians,” Singh said.
“It shouldn’t be that we give a company a blank check and say we hope you hire Canadians.”
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