Canada’s first EV plant is at an inflection point—testing GM’s strategy in a bumpy year.
When the BrightDrop product first rolled off assembly lines at the CAMI plant in 2022, attitudes toward EVs were jubilant and the plant was thought to be the first of many. The high-tech BrightDrop vans are used by companies like FedEx and Walmart to deliver packages.
Over the past year, the industry has become more sombre. General Motors laid off 1,000 salaried software and services workers worldwide this month, including workers in Canada, and delayed plans to build EV batteries in Indiana until 2027. Ford officially scrapped plans to build a three-row EV—that’s the EV it once wanted to make in Canada, but delayed it in favour of Super Duty trucks. That decision rippled through the supply chain to Canadian auto-parts giant Magna.
Now, Unifor Local 88, which represents workers at Ontario’s BrightDrop EV plant, is heading into key contract negotiations with GM.
The automaker’s approach to the talks will shed light on how GM is now thinking about its over $2 billion in Canadian EV investments and joint ventures.
The union voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike mandate this past weekend, ahead of their contract ending on Sept. 17. GM Canada spokesperson Jennifer Wright said the automaker is committed to working with Unifor on a new contract.
Strained negotiations, which come nearly a year after Unifor’s U.S. counterpart, the UAW, won major concessions from automakers after a historic strike, could build on recent tensions between unions and employers across North America.
“The cost of living has gone up so much,” said union leader Mike Van Boekel, who is concerned about job security as his members have continued to work a two-week on, two-week off schedule that has cut into their income for years.
“Nobody wins in a strike. Our members have gone through a lot,” he said in an interview. “They’ve had a lot of down weeks right now. We’re just trying to get going again.”
When it launched to much excitement in January 2021, BrightDrop delivery vans were a new market for GM: an internal startup, led by a Silicon Valley executive. Last November, GM reorganized the unit, bringing it into Detroit’s grip.
While BrightDrop might be the new kid on the block, its rival, the Ford E-Transit, has been one of the few bright spots in Ford’s EV plans. Ford is also doubling down on technology for enterprise fleets, like Ford Pro, and looking to upgrade high-tech vans like ambulances.
As traditional dealerships try to get up to speed on the new product, Van Boekel said he’d be happy to show prospective clients around the BrightDrop plant to make sure GM stays in the competition for big business-to-business clients like Canada Post, which is electrifying its fleet but so far hasn’t been a client for BrightDrop.
Workers are still bullish on the BrightDrop EV product and have jumped on ideas to kickstart demand, such as motorizing the rear hatch on the vans to reduce back and shoulder strain for delivery drivers, he said.
“I think we’re on the right path,” Van Boekel said. “We also have new technology, which adds a whole new wrinkle to it as well. But I do believe in the future.”
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