Manufacturers say American autoworker strike could idle Canadian supplier plants
CBC
The ongoing strike by autoworkers at automotive plants in the United States will idle manufacturing plants in Canada in a matter of days, according to industry experts.
There are 13,000 workers striking at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that are now on the eighth day of job action picketing at three facilities, each operated by one of the Detroit Three automakers.
Flavio Volpe is head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, which represents companies that build components for vehicles being built in North America.
He said companies let out a "sigh of relief" when the tentative deal between Unifor and Ford was announced.
But he said those companies are worried about the United Auto Workers threats to expand job action if General Motors, Ford and Stellantis do not make "serious progress" on the union's contract demands.
Volpe said that if strike action at a Jeep production plant continues, parts makers in Canada will adjust their production schedules next week.
"Auto part companies, employers that I represent, will idle those plants," said Volpe.
The North American auto industry operates on a just-in-time production schedule where the Detroit Three automakers buy parts from large tier-one supplier plants that source components for those parts from smaller, tier-two supplier plants.
A string of global crisis level events that includes the disruptive and deadly COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an on-going global microchip shortage, has put those smaller supplier plants in difficult financial positions.
That's made the timing of the UAW strike difficult for tier-one and tier-two suppliers — "especially given the interruptions over the last three years and how thin everybody's balance sheets have become," said Volpe.
WATCH | Supply chain expert says UAW strike showing cracks in the chains
Dennis Darby represents thousands of companies responsible for more than 80 per cent of the Canadian manufacturing sector as president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association (CME).
"This could not come at worse time," he told CBC News.
Darby is in Washington, D.C., this week meeting with his North American counterparts and said the strike is top of mind.
This First Person column is the experience of Shannon Flaman, who lives in Red Deer, Alta. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
City staff are working on long-term plans to prevent toxic and smelly algae blooms at the Hamilton harbour – and short-term plans to mitigate blooms when they happen – but are cautioning residents that it's not the type of problem with a quick fix.
Another blockade of the Ambassador Bridge wouldn't play out like what happened in February 2022 — thanks to police being empowered to act faster and harder, according to a report that's going to Windsor city council next week.
On the first day of 2025, Alberta's default electricity rate is set to be replaced by the new "rate of last resort," in what the province says is a bid to protect consumers from a volatile electricity pricing landscape.
Canadians and Americans sit next to each other in the stands of a small Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., hockey arena to watch the Soo Thunderbirds face off against their cross-border rivals, Michigan's Soo Eagles.
A number of school bus routes in northwestern Ontario have been cancelled Wednesday after a dump of snow overnight in the region. A number of weather advisories also remain in effect in the region, including snow squall warnings in the Greenstone area.
Waterloo regional councillors have voted down a motion that would have asked the Waterloo Regional Police Service to cut $4 million from its proposed 2025 budget.
Residents of a neighbourhood in the heart of downtown Charlottetown hope to have a community garden in place on some vacant land by the time spring arrives.
Planting trees is a popular way to mitigate climate change, but in northern and Arctic regions, it may not be an effective solution.
The RCMP says it's considering deploying Mounties-in-training to help police the Canada-U.S. border as political anxiety over border control mounts in the face of tariff threats from the incoming Trump administration.
Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were honoured Tuesday night before the Calgary Flames played the Columbus Blue Jackets, on the same ice where Johnny etched his place as a cherished member of the city's hockey community.