C8 Corvette Transmissions Part of GM’s New Labor Deal With Canadian Autoworkers

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C8 Corvette Transmissions Part of GM's New Labor Deal With Canadian Autoworkers

Photo Credits: Keith Cornett


A three-year labor deal with General Motors worth more than $1 billion has been overwhelmingly approved by Canadian autoworkers, officials said Monday.

GM had closed down the Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada but will reopen it after the new pact was approved by 85 percent of the union.

The deal includes more than $109 million to in-source new transmission work at the St.Catharines Propulsion Plant for the C8 Corvette, according to Jerry Dias, president of Unifor National, the union that represents the workers.

Production is targeted to begin in the first quarter of 2021.

We certainly aren’t privy to inside information at GM, but a document on the unifor.org website indicates the following: “Equipment installation, facility modification, logistics support and vendor tooling to support the manufacture of a new transmission and variants supplementing an existing supply arrangement for vehicles in a critical market segment.

Could that mean a completely new transmission will be built there for the rumored 2022 Corvette Z06, or is GM just adding more capacity from Canada to handle the expected continued heavy demand for the wildly popular mid-engine Corvette? With the pandemic hindering ample production of certain parts during 2020, we wonder if this expansion is a way to make sure plenty of dual-clutch transmissions are available in the coming years?

C8 Corvette Transmissions Part of GM's New Labor Deal With Canadian Autoworkers


Dias says the contract “solidifies and boldly builds on GM’s Canadian footprint,” adding that the $1.3 billion investment will provide 1,700 jobs at Oshawa and support continued V8 engine production at St. Catherines, in addition to the Corvette transmission work. “Jobs at all three Canadian sites,” he says, “are secure for the life of this agreement, including at the Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre, which will also see upgrades.”

Workers who had been told in 2018 that GM was planning to “unallocated” Oshawa and several other facilities, are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief now that the company has reversed course after public outrage in the U.S. and Canada and decided to keep the plants running, including Detroit-Hamtramck, slated to produce the new electric Hummer.


Source:
unifor.com via Detroit Free Press

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