Fear and uncertainty for Ontario autoworkers after Trump announces 25% tariff
On a day when the President of the United States Donald Trump targeted the manufacturing industry of the vehicles, Ontario Autoworkers said that it is the last wave of what was a storm of uncertainty and more evidence that the Canadian industry needs the government’s support.
Last Wednesday, Trump said he had signed an executive order This will impose an import rate of 25 % on vehicles not made in the United States. Although the full implications of the rate were not immediately clear, he said that the withdrawal will enter April and suggested that it could start a base rate of 2.5 percent.
Trump’s declaration came on the same day when the Canadian liberal leader Mark Carney was in Windsor, Ontario, one of the first line of the tariff war, where he promised $ 2 billion in new supports For the national car industry during the campaign for the federal elections of April 28th. The leader of the ENP Jagmeet Singh defined the last action of Trump a “complete front attack on autworkers”. The conservative leader Pierre Poirievre said that the rates have an impact on workers on both sides of the border.
Trump’s political parrying inflicted another blow to an automotive industry that has had more than his part of ups and downs in recent years.
For Autoworkers Ontario at the GM Cami assembly plant in Ingersoll, and others in the sector, Help cannot arrive early enough.
“There is a lot of uncertainty, and this creates a lot of fear,” said Bonita McCarthy, an employee of Cami plants since 2011 who now has been working as a union awareness coach.
The plant reorganized in 2022 so that it can start producing the new Brightdrop electric delivery vehicle.
While the transition to Brightdrop has maintained the system in operation, there have been occasional arrests for reasons, including shortcomings of parts and other problems of the supply chain.
“We didn’t work in full from Covid,” McCarthy said.
It really has an effect on our members: nobody can take any kind of commitment, buy a house. Many people, not only in the car, live Paycheque for Paycheque. – Brent Tree, Unifor Local 88 President
Kim Dionne, a GM worker and coordinator of the Union’s awareness training program, is also frustrated by the United States move to impose rates, saying that they will inflict damage on both sides of the border.
“The President of the United States … clarified that he does not want a Canadian car industry, but we have been building in Canada for over 100 years,” he said. “These are our work.”
Dionne stressed that vehicles and parts frequently cross the edge as they cross various stages of the assembly and travel along a complex and integrated network that took years to build.
He sees autoworking like his colleagues, not as competitors.
“I feel like working together,” he said. “We are all employed by GM. It’s not like [Trump] He can say: “We will take the shit from the Canadian automotive industry” and open the shop [in the U.S.] Tomorrow. It won’t happen. When those US plants are ready for people to work in them, Trump will be out of office. ”
Workers undergo frequent work breaks
Brent Tree is president of Unifor Local 88, which represents workers in the Cami plant.
He said there is a misunderstanding that the autworkers all earn $ 70 or more an hour, but they must put over the years to make the best wages and endure work arrests that make financial planning a challenge.
“He really has an effect on our members: nobody can take any kind of commitment, buy a house,” he said. “Many people, not only by car, live Paycheque for Paycheque.”
During a stop of the 4th day campaign in Windsor, Ontario, the liberal leader Mark Carryy announced that if it is elected prime minister, a 2 billion dollar “strategic response fund” will be created to help workers affected by the rates imposed by the President of the United States Donald Trump. The fund would help create a network for all Canadians for the production of automotive components.
Dionne said to support any measure, regardless of the politician who does it forward, of how much support and stability to a sector that faces an unprecedented threat to Trump can bring.
“We have to invest in Canada and make sure that our suppliers can produce the necessary parts here so that we can provide our sector,” he said. “We have benefited from it, but now let’s see how quickly it can change. A person’s decision interrupts an entire industry.”
The tree said that the supports that Carney offers makes sense, but will listen to the ideas of any party that can help support a sector. The GM system uses over 1,300 workers.
“I really hope they’re talking about the sector and not just looking for my vote,” he said. “I never miss a vote, but I hope they are listening to us.”
In a normal year, according to the association of manufacturers of automotive parts, about 80 % of the vehicles made in Canada – almost all from the Ontario – are exported to the United States, are about $ 53 billion of exports.
