According to information supplied by Bombardier Transportation, its local plant increased the delivery rate of TTC streetcars for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, marking the fourth consecutive quarter that it was able to overcome challenges such as parts shortages.
Those shortages led to short-term layoffs over the course of the year for 215 production workers.
The company reports that by year's end, it had delivered 126 of the 204 light rail vehicles ordered by the Toronto Transit Commission, and that it remains "fully committed" to supplying all 204 cars by the end of 2019.
What happens next remains a big worry for Pasqualino.
In 2018, the plant "met all our promises" both in the production of LRVs and the delivery of bi-level commuter cars for GO Transit. "The GO trains were even increased from what our goal was," the head of Unifor Local 1075 said Monday.
Pasqualino said Thunder Bay is now producing one LRV every three days, and one bi-level car every two days. Both orders are set for completion this year.
"We've had a fantastic year. We just need to get that out...That's the good news. The bad news, unfortunately, is that of this moment there are no new contracts," he said.
Approximately 900 Unifor members work at the Thunder Bay plant, and Pasqualino estimates it also employs about 200 other workers.
To keep those jobs, and the hundreds of associated spinoff jobs that Bombardier generates in the city, Unifor is sitting down with the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.
"We're trying to figure out our next plan. Whether we're going to some politicians or talk to some TTC people, some city councillors, or (Premier) Doug Ford."
Pasqualino described the plant as "a huge economic driver" for Thunder Bay.
"We are the number one private-sector employer. Just drive by the parking lot. For every one of those vehicles, there's a family behind that."
Last month, Thunder Bay city council passed a motion expressing "profound disappointment" over VIA Rail's decision to award a contract for 32 new passenger cars to the German manufacturer Siemens.
The $939 million dollar order will go to a Siemens plant in California.
City council criticized the lack of a Canadian content requirement for VIA Rail equipment.
Doug Murray, CEO of the Thunder Bay CEDC, said Monday that the commission has been lobbying provincial officials on behalf of the Bombardier plant since last summer, following the election of the new government.
It also plans to advocate for the plant with the new administration in the City of Toronto.
Murray said it's urgent to inform new policy advisors and government bureaucrats—not just politicians—about the significance of the plant is to the city and to the entire province, and what the absence of new contracts will mean.
"We need to do everything we can...I don't want to hear at the end of the year that 'Oh, I didn't know that was going to happen,' " Murray said.
He said the CEDC is working to ensure advisors and decision-makers in the government know "we make a quality product here...Toronto and the GTAH [Greater Toronto and Hamilton area] need these products."
Murray described transit services in the Toronto area as a "nightmare."
When he boarded a subway car to go to a meeting with government officials in September, he said, "it was like getting into a cattle car. So, there's living proof that transportation needs to be improved in the Toronto area...and we have solutions in Thunder Bay."
Murray said the CEDC is working with a number of different partners to promote the local plant, including Unifor and Bombardier.
Company management, he said, has been "helpful."
One of the messages the commission will continue to push is that other Ontario manufacturers benefit when contracts go to Bombardier, as they supply a large variety of parts for the products assembled in Thunder Bay.
