THUNDER BAY — About 250 Alstom employees could be laid off starting in June if more contracts aren’t secured before then for the Thunder Bay plant.
“We're laying off so many right now because again, the LRV (light rail vehicle) streetcar contract has come to completion and we currently have about just over 200 members working on that line," said Unifor Local 1075 president Justin Roberts, representing workers at the facility.
"As that one ramps down there'll be a gradual layoff in smaller increments until the full completion of that contract.”
Roberts said about 400 people make up the Alstom workforce in Thunder Bay and if the layoffs proceed as projected in June, it would leave about 150 people still on the job.
They are currently working on a Go Transit refurbishment contract of 94 cars and once that ends, they will begin work on a 181-car contract awarded in January, said Roberts.
“Those cars will carry us until about 2030-32,” said Roberts. “We really need the future subway car contract to keep our plant very profitable, but aside from that work, I’ve heard that there are rumblings of smaller contracts that we are reaching out and we’re trying to get to maintain our workforce.”
The TTC is currently seeking a manufacturer to build 55 new trains for its Line 2.
The company has not confirmed that layoffs are coming.
In an email statement, Alstom’s communication manager, Perry Jensen, said they are currently assessing the impact the LRV contract ending will have on its workforce and they are actively working on potential future opportunities for the site.
“It is too soon to extrapolate on how many people might be affected or not by a situation that is linked to the very cyclical nature of our industry,” said Jensen. “Bringing additional work to Thunder Bay is an ongoing effort for us and our partners, as demonstrated by the Metrolinx overhaul contract announced by the Ontario government last January.”
Meanwhile, Roberts said the union will continue to push all three levels of government to support the local plant and come together to secure these contracts.
“It’d be really be helpful if they would speed up the bid process on some of these contracts because that's the determining factor on a lot of these layoffs - if we would have had these contracts in place sooner, there would be less layoffs happening and more reason to try to lengthen the work until the next contract,” he said.
- With files from Clint Fleury and Gary Rinne
