GM to bring back pickup truck production to Oshawa

General Motors will bring back pickup truck production to its Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant, said GM Canada president Scott Bell in a press release issued on Thursday.

This announcement comes after GM reached a tentative contract agreement with Unifor.

“Subject to ratification of our 2020 agreement with Unifor, General Motors plans to bring pickup production back to the Oshawa Assembly Plant while making additional investments at the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant and Woodstock Parts Distribution Centre,” said Bell in the press release.

Bell said the new investments will include $1 billion to $1.3 billion at the Oshawa Assembly Plant. GM expects to hire 1,400 to 1,700 hourly workers.

GM will spend $109 million at the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant to support added engine and transmission production. There will be $500,000 dedicated to the Woodstock Production Distribution Centre for operations.

Construction is going to begin at the Oshawa Assembly Plant soon. This construction will include a new body shop and a flexible assembly module to support a fast response to strong customer demand for pickup trucks.

Oshawa pickup truck production is slated to begin in January 2022.

GM announced in 2018 it would shutter vehicle assembly in Oshawa to restructure. Vehicle assembly stopped in December 2019, which led to 2,300 jobs being lost.

Negotiations between GM and Unifor remained ongoing. The union was able to obtain a commitment that the ability to assemble vehicles at the plant would remain intact despite production stopping in 2019.

Bell said he will hold further discussions with the Ontario and Canadian governments. He said he is looking forward to working with Unifor to ratify this agreement.

Unifor president Jerry Dias offered a higher estimate than GM for the number of jobs this deal will create, pegging it at somewhere between 2,000 to 2,500.

“We needed to get people back to work immediately,” said Dias. “We needed to make sure that we reopened Oshawa immediately so we can get the supply base back up and running.”

Unifor’s members will vote on the new tentative agreement on Sunday. The union has recommended its members approve this deal.