THUNDER BAY - With more layoffs announced at the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant, chief operating officer for Bombardier Transportation in the Americas, David Van der Wee, said decisions about securing more work in the future need to be made now.
“We are at the point right now at the end of 2021, there is simply nothing left in the pipeline,” he said.
“We have a problem. It’s today’s problem. It’s not tomorrow’s problem. It’s not something for the end of 2021. This is a manufacturing system and in that kind of system, the decision you make today will only have an impact a year from now.”
Van der Wee was in Thunder Bay on Wednesday to inform the workers at the local plant that 125 people will be laid off starting in mid-October as work slows down on 36 bi-level cars and the manufacturing of components for ventilators winds down in the next two months.
An additional 75 workers will be laid off in early 2021 as work concludes on roof assemblies for Eglinton Crosstown LVRs and retrofitting vehicles with additional communications equipment for Metrollinx.
“Today I had to give the very sad news that even though we’ve been working very hard to reinforce the pipeline by winning new contracts, by moving work from other plants and bringing it in here, and doing retrofits and upgrades for Eglinton Crosstown, that pipeline is diminishing and diminishing rapidly,” Van der Wee said.
The 200 workers being laid off out of the approximately 470 current employees is another devastating blow to the local Bombardier plant, which saw 550 workers laid off last fall when two major contracts concluded at the end of 2019.
The future of the plant in Thunder Bay will rely on securing additional contracts for light rail vehicles to bridge the gap to larger orders from the Toronto Transit Commission.
Bombardier, union members, and municipal officials have been working with the provincial and federal governments to bring these contracts to the local plant.
“I’ve talked to various levels of government,” said Dominic Pasqualino, president of Unifor Local 1075. “Individually everyone seems to be online. They all understand it’s important for the city to get that. It’s important for Ontario jobs. It’s important to keep our skill set here. What we need to do is get them all in one room and work out the details.”
But Van der Wee recognizes that things have changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and complicating matters for major transit systems like the TTC.
“Our customers, the transit agencies, TTC, Metrolinx, Go Transit, they are facing incredible challenges just on the operation side to retool, restructure, re-budget to be able to address the current crisis,” he said.
“This creates a lot of new priorities. But at the end of the day, manufacturing jobs, especially in the Thunder Bay region are critical for the province.”
Van der Wee said the TTC contract will serve as a bridge for the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant and help sustain operations until bigger projects as part of Premier Doug Ford’s transit plan come forward.
“It’s about creating a bridge, it’s about creating a viable operation, and it’s about putting ourselves in a position to compete and win for the next series of big contracts that are up coming,” Van der Wee said. “If we can do that, I have all the confidence in the world that this facility will be able to compete and able to win.”
Another variable complicating matters is the potential acquisition of Bombardier transportation by the Paris-based company, Alstom.
“The process is happening on schedule,” Van der Wee said. “I know for a certainty that the best position for this plant under a transfer to new ownership is to show a commitment pipeline of projects that are profitable, that bring value to our customers, and if we can do that we will be in a good position.”
Negotiations will continue to secure more contracts in the hopes of not only sustaining work at the local plant, but also securing its future down the road.
“The more people the better it will be for the economy,” Pasqualino said. “But also for getting more contracts. It’s a lot easier to go from 500 to 800 workers than to go from 50 to 350. It’s really important to have the base here.”
