'Their way of living has drastically changed': hoping for an economic boost from CAMI contract

While the employees will be the biggest beneficiaries, small businesses in Ingersoll are also banking on seeing benefits from a new contract for workers at CAMI.

About 900 workers at CAMI have a new contract with the promise of job stability, and Ingersoll businesses are also hoping to benefit.

While the employees will be the biggest beneficiaries, small businesses in Ingersoll are also banking on seeing benefits from a new contract for workers at CAMI.

Recent years have been a struggle for retailers and restaurants, and upheaval at the CAMI plant has only compounded those issues for businesses in that community.

Chris Kneilands owns the Joker's Crown Restaurant and Pub, "We have a great industry like CAMI. They've been in and out of work for a couple of years now, and it really impacts my business as well."

She says pressures on her business continue to mount, "Sales are down. So I do a lot of it myself now. You know, I'm in the kitchen seven days a week. It just has to be, you know, until the sales can go back up. So, you do what you have to do to survive."

CAMI workers had been on rotating lay-offs while they converted production lines at the plant manufacture the Chevrolet BrightDrop electric vehicles. Post-pandemic supply chain issues further delayed that conversion. A new collectively bargained agreement between UNIFOR Local 88 and General Motors which was ratified on Sunday is expected to stabilize that workforce.