GM invests about a quarter of a billion dollars in Canada truck plant it almost shut down

General Motors will invest CA$280 million ($208 million in U.S. dollars) to upgrade its Oshawa Assembly plant in Canada to build next generation full-size gasoline-powered pickups.

GM made the announcement Tuesday, a day after it announced it will spend about $1 billion to upgrade two factories in Flint to build the next-generation heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Similar to Monday’s news in Flint, GM is not releasing any product details and timing related to the future trucks at this time.

“Oshawa Assembly plays a critical role in meeting customer demand for GM’s popular full-size trucks, helping GM lead the Canadian industry in heavy-duty truck sales in 2022 and take an early lead in total truck sales for 2023,” Marissa West, president and managing director of GM Canada, said in a statement. “Today, we are proud to say we will continue to build pickups with Oshawa pride for years to come.”

Unifor, the union in Canada that represents autoworkers, has 3,000 members employed at Oshawa. The plant, located about 40 miles east of Toronto near the Lake Ontario shoreline, currently builds the heavy-duty and the light-duty Silverado on the same production line.

“We have taken the next big step in securing the plant’s footprint and thousands of good paying union jobs in Ontario with GM’s investment and product commitment to the next generation of trucks,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National president. “It makes sense to invest in our highly skilled Oshawa members, half of whom are women, to drive both the local and national economies forward.”  

In late 2018, GM said it would permanently close Oshawa and four other plants in North America. But Unifor put up a rancorous fight with GM in the winter of 2018. By late spring 2019, the venom had mellowed into an affable dialogue between the union and GM, ultimately leading to Oshawa’s resurrection in 2020’s contract negotiations. In November 2021 the first pickup rolled off the line at Oshawa. In January 2022 a second shift started and at that time GM said more than half of the new hires were women. It now runs three shifts, GM said.

This recent investment is crucial to job stability for Unifor members ahead of contract talks starting in August. Unifor is ready to build more future pickups, Payne said, noting that “the success of the Oshawa-made Silverado trucks is helping fund GM’s EV investments. As the transition continues, our members expect to share in the EV future.”