Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Stellantis discusses building Chinese EVs at Ont. plant

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Stellantis discusses building Chinese EVs at Ont. plant · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Reports say automaker Stilantis is looking at building Chinese electric
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: vehicles at a Brampton plant. The idea is getting criticism
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the union president Greg
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Ross has more.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: This assembly plant in Brampton is currently vacant. It's owned
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: by the Stalantis Corporation. As first reported by Bloomberg, the
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: company is discussing options with a partner in China to
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  Speaker 2: start assembling Chinese leap motor evs here.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: It's completely unacceptable for our plant.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: That's not the answer.
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  Speaker 2: Bido Biato is the president of Unifour Local twelve eighty five,
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  Speaker 2: which represents thousands of autoworkers at this plant who are
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: currently out of a job. He says the option Stilantis
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: is reportedly considering would essentially mean bringing parts and vehicles,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: mostly manufactured in China here to this plant to be completed.
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  Speaker 4: It's a small.
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  Speaker 3: Fraction of what we normally do. It's a small fraction
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  Speaker 3: of what our on the auto industry has done for
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: over one hundred years.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: He says. Thousands of workers would permanently be out of
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: a job. The union says it wouldn't only be the
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: thousands of workers that they represent here at this plant
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  Speaker 2: in Brampton that would be impacted by an agreement like this.
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  Speaker 3: We're talking about a parts supplier base that would be decimated.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: We're talking about no paint shop. We're talking about no
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  Speaker 3: body shop, We're talking about no trades.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: The federal government gave Stilantis hundreds of millions of dollars
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: to retool this building with plans to start assembling Chrysler's
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  Speaker 2: Jeep Compass here. That plan changed when the US government
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: began imposing tariffs on Canadian made vehicles last year. Stilantis
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: has since moved the assembly of the Jeep Compass to
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: a plant in Illinois. We have a commitment with the company.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: We got a negotiated deal with the company that we
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: both agreed upon, and that's what we're going to continue
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: to push. And they have the same commitments with the
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: provincial federal government. This proposal or this plan is a
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  Speaker 3: far cry from that.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: In an agreement with the federal government, Stilantis is obligated
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: to keep the assembly plant in Brampton open until twenty
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: thirty five. A representative from the automaker told CBC they
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: are actively evaluating future programs for Brampton, with the objective
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to ensure that any investment decision is sustainable and a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: long term commitment that supports workers and suppliers. Greg Ross,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: CBC News, Brampton.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Let's get some reaction now from someone who works at
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  Speaker 1: the plant. Veto Biato is president of Unifour Local one
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  Speaker 1: two eighty five. That's the plant that represents workers at
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  Speaker 1: the Stillantes factory in Brampton. Veto, good to have you
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: on the show.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Thank you very much, happy to be here. Thank you.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: So when you when you read these headlines and you
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: heard Premier Ford talking about this and he's upset, your
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: union is calling this grave concern or at least you
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: have grave concerns.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Why so when you look at this article and this
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Kating proposal that everyone's talking about, it doesn't add up
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: to what we're used to doing. Our Brampton Assembi plant
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  Speaker 3: has three thousand members and thousands of more in the
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  Speaker 3: parts supplier base. This Kating proposal would only employ two
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: three hundred people. And at the same time, when you
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: look at what we do as far as our auto
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: industry concerned and our Brampton as Sembi plant, there would
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: be no body shop there would be no stamping facility.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: We wouldn't be painting anything, we wouldn't be welding anything.
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  Speaker 3: There would be no trades, the parts, the flier base
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: would be gone, even the dealerships would be affected. So
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: this would decimate our auto industry and estimate how we
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: do business out of the Brampton semiplant. And that's not
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: a good thing. It's unacceptable and definitely have grave concern.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: This is not something that any government should be looking
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: at or approving or thinking that it's a good idea.
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  Speaker 1: YEA important to say this is based on an articles.
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  Speaker 1: The details are not fleshed out in any way at
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  Speaker 1: this point though, as I point out, you know it
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: is already getting political reactions, So you and others are
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: taking very seriously the idea that this is even a
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: conversation that is happening. You talk about you would anticipate
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: based on what you've read this employing only two to
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  Speaker 1: three hundred people. Talk to me about how many people
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: are waiting to get back to work.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Like I said, our Brampton is semiplan employees three
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: thousand people. We've been idle since the end of twenty
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  Speaker 3: twenty three. We have been very successful in our time
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: at Brampton. We are the bedrock of that community. Every
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: model that we've built has done well. We finished off
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: building our muscle cars the Challenger Charger in three hundred
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: and for the past twenty nine months now, we've been
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: waiting to get back to work. Our members are concerned,
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  Speaker 3: our members are worried. Our members want to get back
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  Speaker 3: to work and do what we do best in build cars.
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  Speaker 3: And that's three thousand members and we're ready to go.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we've been idle for this long. Our plants
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  Speaker 3: has been retooling for the Jeep Compass and that's what
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  Speaker 3: we're going to push the company to get us back
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  Speaker 3: to because that's what we negotiate it not only with
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: us the union, but also with the provincial and federal governments.
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  Speaker 4: So we're ready to go. We've got robots to stamp
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  Speaker 4: for the ground.
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  Speaker 3: We got the stuff ready and when we talk about
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  Speaker 3: building cars, that's what we want to do and know how.
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  Speaker 4: We do that and we do it well.
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  Speaker 3: So if we want to build cars, we can do
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  Speaker 3: it right now and we should get to do that
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  Speaker 3: and never mind this kidding stuff.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so plan kit assembly. I just want to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that that is well defined here we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: parts being made elsewhere, comes in like a kit, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: someone in Canada is then if this were to be
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the case, just puts it together. From your standpoint, and
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  Speaker 1: I think I know the answer here. But quality wise,
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  Speaker 1: do you feel like a car can be built at
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  Speaker 1: a high quality level if it is done that way?
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  Speaker 3: Listen, we can build high quality cars the way you've
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  Speaker 3: been doing it for over one hundred years and the
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: way Brampton's been doing it. This proposal, in this system
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  Speaker 3: destimates our industry estimates, our supplier base estimates, our members
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: in the plant, won't allow us the stamp cars, won't
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  Speaker 3: allow us to paint cars, wealth cars, you name it.
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  Speaker 4: Our skill trades.
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  Speaker 3: It takes away from workers, and it takes away what
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  Speaker 3: we do best, and that's built cars. This proposal doesn't
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: do any of that. Yeah, it only imports two threaded members.
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  Speaker 3: And it's like an Ikea system where you know, you
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: get a box and you put stuff together like a table.
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  Speaker 3: That's what the system is all about. And we can't
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: do that. It's unacceptable, right and so.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: But on consumer point of view, what I'm asking is
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: is the car of equal quality I.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Would say that if it's built here, it would be
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: of good quality when it comes from you know, overseas.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: There's definitely some questions there.
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  Speaker 3: But when you look at you know, what we want
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  Speaker 3: to do here and what we've been doing here. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the government's got some work to do when you look
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: at their auto strategy. We want to make sure that
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: if we sell here, you build here, and we want
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: to make sure that the governments are looking at you know,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: stilanthus a, GM, Honda, Toyota. These are the companies that
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: build here and sell here, and we need government to
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  Speaker 3: protect those companies because when they protect those companies, they're
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: protecting us workers and making sure that we do what
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: we do best in build the cars. And that's what's
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: got to be at the forefront of this auto strategy
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  Speaker 3: is workers and the easy slogan of if you sell here,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: you got to build here.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Right. Take your point, What would you say to someone
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: who says this is how things are going. Solantis is
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: a company that is looking to profit and if they
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: feel like this is the less the more profitable way
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  Speaker 1: for them to go, that that's how industry works. What's
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: your response to that.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: My response to that would be this when we were
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: building cars in Brampton, and we stop building cars at
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  Speaker 3: the end of twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 4: The company was doing.
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  Speaker 3: Very well, very very well, and making some good money,
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  Speaker 3: has some good market share and profits for coming out
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: of the Brampton a semi plint like you wouldn't believe.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: And now since then and since our Brampton, Brampton semi
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  Speaker 3: plant hasn't been building cars, the company is taking a hit.
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  Speaker 4: The company the market share is taking a hit, their
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: stock is taking hits.
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  Speaker 3: So I would say, we can build quality and we
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: can make money for the company if we just get
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  Speaker 3: back to work and do what we do best and
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: build cars.
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  Speaker 1: Fido Biato is president of Unifor Local one two eight five.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you very much.