Unifor holds work stoppage over Nemak auto parts plant closure

September 3, 2019 – Union members at Nemak of Canada Corporation held a work stoppage on September 2 to protest the company’s decision to close its plant in Windsor, Ontario.

In July, the company announced plans to move production of the I-6 diesel aluminum engine block and the Corvette engine block and bedplate to its facilities in Monterey, Mexico, by mid-2020.

Unifor Local 200, the union representing workers at Nemak, says violates an agreement Nemak signed in 2016 that would keep the plan open until 2022 after a four-year wage freeze.

Unifor leadership met with Nemak CEO Armando Tamez Martinez last week in Monterey, Mexico but say talks were unproductive.

The workers say they will not return to production until Nemak abides by the original agreement of keeping the plant open until 2022.

The Nemak plant originally opened in 1996 under the Ford Motor Company, and employed more than 600 workers before Nemak took over operations in 2010. Currently there are 180 Unifor workers at the plant, and about 270 workers total.

According to CBC News, Nemak and the federal and provincial governments have invested about $15 million into the plant since 2015.