Automotive News Canada - March 2021-v2 - 16

* MARCH 2021

Help, they
need somebody
Automakers could look
to the service sector
for new talent to fill job
roles as GM Oshawa and
FCA Windsor ramp up
By JOHN IRWIN

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

GENERAL MOTORS AND FIAT
Chrysler Automobiles Canada will likely have to get creative as they plan to
hire 3,700 workers at two Canadian
plants in the coming years.
The industry's best
shot might be recruiting workers from the service sector, which has suffered a significant slowdown since the COVID-19
pandemic began, said Kristin Dziczek,
vice-president of industry, labour and
economics at the Center for
Automotive Research in Ann Arbor,
Mich. The companies can point to high
wages and benefits to try winning over
those workers, especially those who
might not have considered a career
in manufacturing.
A job in auto assembly is, " in
most labour markets, a job with relatively better pay and benefits than
most manufacturing or service jobs, "
she said. " The service sector is down a
lot, so I think they'll probably be looking at transitioning people who haven't
worked in manufacturing before. "

Both sites - GM's Oshawa, Ont.,
factory east of Toronto and FCA's
Windsor, Ont., plant near the U.S. border - are relatively secluded when
compared with the rest of the companies' manufacturing footprints.
Oshawa Assembly is more than
200 kilometres from GM's assembly
plant in Ingersoll, Ont., while the FCA
Windsor factory is about 350 kilometres southwest of the automaker's
Brampton, Ont., plant.
That means transferring workers from one plant to another if necessary is largely off the table, said
Dziczek. The situation in Canada, with
its spread-out manufacturing base, contrasts with the
auto sector's plants in the
U.S. Midwest, where the
manufacturing footprint
is more densely populated and transfers are common, Dziczek said.
" It's going to be tough. All of
Canada's plants are sort of in their own
little diasporas. "
GM and FCA plan to make those
hires in the coming years as part of billion-dollar investments in their factories. GM will spend up to $1.3 billion in
Oshawa to build pickups, resulting in
1,400 to 1,700 hires, including about 175
workers still on layoff from the end of
vehicle assembly there in 2019.
That leaves GM with up to
1,525 new hires to find for Oshawa
by the time production starts in
2022. Unifor President Jerry Dias said
he expects the automaker to turn to

HIRING 2.0

SPOTLIGHT

workers who were let go during the
2019 wind-down and gauge their interest in returning to the plant.
" There's no question in my mind
that they will pick and choose from
those that severed because they
know they're
trained to do
the work, " Dias
said. " They will
be selective on
who they bring
back, but based
on everything I'm
hearing, they will Dziczek:
pull from the pool Because of
of those that have distance,
transferring
been severed. "
GM spokeswom- workers between
an Jennifer Wright factories is an
unlikely solution
confirmed that
to potential
the automaker is
worker shortages
" in the process of
recruiting and hir- at GM's Oshawa
and Fiat Chrysler
ing " workers for
Automobiles'
Oshawa, includWindsor plants.
ing production
FILE PHOTO
and skilled trades
workers, as well as management and
engineering positions.
" It's a good problem to have, "
Wright wrote in an email to Automotive
News Canada, adding that the company
would " work closely " with Unifor on
staffing plans.

REHIRING, RECALLS FALL SHORT
FCA plans to hire/recall 2,000 workers as part of its plan to invest up to

Racial equity: Start by seeing us
Group to 'champion'
change and build
a network of Black
professionals within
the auto industry
By STEPHANIE WALLCRAFT
TORONTO CORRESPONDENT

A NEW ORGANIZATION AIMS TO
become a force for racial equity by
boosting the representation of Black
employees throughout every segment of
Canada's auto sector.
The not-for-profit initiative, called
Accelerate Auto, comprises Black
employees from all corners of automotive, said Emiliano Void, the group's
chair and one of 13 founding members.
" It gives the industry as a whole a
vehicle to get on board with us to help
champion the change, " said Void, also
national operations manager at Cox
Automotive Canada. " Not from the perspective of somebody who has not lived
this experience or this hardship, not
from somebody that's outside of the
Black community, but [from] within the
most comprehensive representation of

the Black perspective and experience in
the automotive space. "
The founding members represent four automakers, two dealership
groups, two industry associations and
four people representing vendors or
industry support.
The group evolved from an internal
program at Cox Automotive Canada
called the Black Employee Network,
Void told Automotive News Canada.
That led to discussions among his peers
that demonstrated a need for an organized, industrywide initiative.
" We started doing outreach to Black
professionals that we had direct connections with, and immediately we were
able to grow a working collaborative of
Black professionals, " Void said.

FEW BLACK LEADERS
According to the 2016 census,
1,198,540 Canadians identified themselves as being Black, representing 3.5
per cent of the population. A 2020 study
by Ryerson University's Diversity
Institute found, however, that among
1,639 members of corporate boards of
directors across Canada, only 13 (0.8
per cent) were Black.
In Toronto, the gap is even wider:
Although 7.5 per cent of the city's pop-

CON

an
co
sc

er
Pe
tu
iti

Even if it rehires all available workers,
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will have
to find at least 1,575 new employees
for Windsor in the next few years.

sp
aw
an
dir
eq

sta

FILE PHOTO

$1.5 billion for electric-vehicle production at Windsor in 2024. That figure could include about 425 workers on layoff after the factory's third
shift ended last year, when 1,500 jobs
were eliminated. Many took retirement
packages, Dias said.
Of those that remain on layoff,
" Chrysler has a contractual obligation
to bring them back, " he said.
Still, that would leave FCA with at
least 1,575 workers to hire in the next
few years. That could be a particular challenge for the company in the
Windsor area, which is smaller and
more isolated from other major population centres than the auto plants in the
Greater Toronto Area.
Dziczek said Unifor's latest contracts with the Detroit Three could also
help attract new workers to the sector.
The contracts shorten - to eight years
from 10 - the phase-in period for new
hires to be paid a full wage.
GM and FCA production workers who are paid a full wage
will earn $37.33 an hour by the third
year of the new contracts, according
to Unifor, while skilled-trades workers will earn $44.77 per hour. The average Canadian worker across all sectors
made $27.83 an hour in 2019, according
to Statistics Canada. - ANC

that prevent Black youth from receiving an education that could propel
them into automotive careers, and
increasing awareness of and education
around anti-Black systemic racism.
To increase Black representation,
ulation is Black, only 0.3 per cent of
the group aims to become a resource
corporate board members based in
for Canadian auto companies
Toronto are Black.
seeking to examine their hirThere are no Black leaders
ing practices, create a more
among the Canadian automoinclusive recruitment process,
tive industry's 17 CEOs and
eliminate unconscious bias
presidents. Beyond that, no stafrom candidate screening and
tistics are available to measure
engage in strategic planning
Black representation in the
around diversity and incluCanadian auto industry, said
sion. A mentorship network is
Jennifer Okoeguale, a public
also being established through
relations consultant at Toyota
the Accelerate Auto LinkedIn
Canada and a founding memVoid: Accelerate page.
ber of Accelerate Auto.
Auto " gives the
This process begins with
" We've found that most
industry as a
" looking
to see if there is actuorganizations and industries
whole a vehicle
ally
Black
talent across the
lack this crucial information
to get on board
organization and asking the
... largely due to the fact that
with us to help
question whether our organimost employees opt out of
champion the
zations truly reflect the cusself-identifying their diversichange. "
tomers we're serving, " said
ty, usually out of fear of disPHOTO VIA
EMILIANO VOID
Edith Pencil, head of employcrimination or being singled
ee services at Performance
out, " Okoeguale said. " [This]
Auto Group, which has 30 dealerships
is one of the areas we are looking to
work on collaboratively with the indus- located in Southern Ontario.
try to bring positive change. "
OPPORTUNITY CREATES CAREERS
Accelerate Auto is beginning its
To make education more accessimandate by initiating a consultation
ble for Black young people, Accelerate
period with industry stakeholders to
Auto plans to establish scholarships
address three issues: poor representation by Black people in the Canadian
auto industry, the financial barriers
CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Ok
" W
do
mo
str
ar
me
ou

PH
OK

ca
in
tri

ar
co
se
tio
on
wi

Automotive News Canada - March 2021-v2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - March 2021-v2