THUNDER BAY - Workers at the local Bombardier plant say they are taking it one day at a time as uncertainty looms following news of the possible acquisition of the transportation arm by the Paris-based company Alstom.
But a Bombardier Transportation chief operating officer for the Americas, David Van Der Wee, said it is business as usual as the company continues to work at securing more contracts for the Thunder Bay plant.
“I tell my people we don’t know what the future is going to bring, but we can be certain of is that performance, on-time delivery, quality, and delighting the customer are what we need to keep continuing to do to position ourselves as best as we can,” Van Der Wee said.
Van Der Wee was in Thunder Bay on Tuesday to speak with the remaining workers at the plant about the planned acquisition of Bombardier transportation by Alstom, which was announced earlier this month.
The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding and the actual acquisition could take between 12 and 18 months. According to Van Der Wee, the North American market is very important to Alstom.
“We have more footprint in the North American market, including Thunder Bay, than Alstom does,” he said. “That is part of what they are adding to their portfolio. That is one of the drivers behind the acquisition. The North American market is extremely strong.”
Van Der Wee said the $8.2 billion acquisition will allow Bombardier to lessen its debt very rapidly and allows the company to invest in new technologies for the aerospace and transportation side and take advantage of growth cycles.
But Van Der Wee added he understands workers are worried about what the acquisition will mean for the long-term future of the Thunder Bay operation.
“I think there is a worry. I don’t want to minimize that,” he said. “There are people in this plant who have been working here for more than 30 years. There is a big impact on them emotionally. But what I’m trying to share with them is I am optimistic about the horizon. I think there is a lot of potential going forward.”
For the next 12 to 18 months, the two companies will remain completely separate and continue to compete with one another in the North American Market, while Bombardier lobbies to bring more work to Thunder Bay.
“There is always going to be a certain degree of uncertainty,” Van Der Wee said. “For the next 12 to 18 months, the most important thing is to continue as business as usual. We are going to continue to compete with Alstom in the market, we are going to continue to drive and win new orders. We talk a lot about new orders for this plant, and that still remains the most important thing in securing the future for this plant.”
Unifor meets with Toronto city mayor
On Monday, representatives from Unifor, including Unifor Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino, met with Toronto City Mayor John Tory.
The meeting follows Toronto city council passing its 2020 budget on Feb. 19, which includes Toronto’s portion to fund its long-term vehicle procurement plan and the purchase of 60 streetcars and 80 subway cars.
“They need a lot of streetcars and a lot of subway cars and we are the people that can fill that,” Pasqualino said. “We have a good record with our subway cars. They are one of the best cars in North America and the street cars are performing increasingly well all the time.”
Two contracts with the Toronto Transit Commission wrapped up at the end of 2019 and as a result 550 workers in Thunder Bay were laid off.
A deal was struck for the plant to build 36 bi-level cars for Metrolinx and there are plans to bring up to 80 workers back this spring, but a more substantial contract is still needed.
Pasqualino said it is now up to the federal and provincial governments to provide the additional funding to the city of Toronto, as traditionally these types of transportation deals are funded with a third coming from the municipality, a third from the province, and a third from the federal government.
“It’s great that the smaller government of the three has put up the money already and their requests are being known and they are legitimate requests, and hopefully now we can get the other two levels of government on board,” he said.
“Time is of the essence. We are looking at more and more layoffs, the price of these cars are going to go up if the supplier demand goes down,” Pasqualino added. “It works well for everybody to get a contract signed as soon as possible with all three levels of government.”
Van Der Wee said there are no immediate plans for any additional layoffs at this time and Bombardier will continue to have discussions with all levels of government to try and secure more contracts, adding that he believes the company is the solution for streetcars needed by the Toronto Transit Commission.
“We want to make sure that message resonates with all levels of government so we can align the funding to make that happen,” he said.
Pasqualino said it will be very important for the company and the Thunder Bay plant to have those contracts in place before Alstom takes the helm.
“If we are looking at 12 to 18 months, it is really important that when we hand this over, if that happens, to Alstom that we are looking at a plant that has all its lines running with its order books full and then it will really do well to make sure this plant is running for the next 15 years,” he said.
