One-hundred-and-thirty people are being laid off from Thunder Bay's Bombardier plant.
Canadian Auto Workers union local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino confirmed that 50 of those positions will be temporary layoffs, while another 80 are expected to be permanent.
Most will be out of work by the end of next week.
The plant was going to produce four of the Rocket cars per week, but that production rate has been reduced, said Pasqualino.
“They are going to settle with three cars a week. With that they’re going to need less manpower,” he said.
“That’s good news for the people who are going to be here and not laid off; it means they’ll be working longer, but it’s unfortunate for those that are going to be leaving.”
With the recent flooding in Toronto, Pasqualino admits he was surprised by the move.
“I would have suspected, due to the floods, maybe they needed them sooner,” he said.
The employees working on the Rocket cars were originally scheduled to be laid off in November of next year, but with these changes Pasqualino suspects they’ll be working longer.
The Canadian Press reported that Bombardier was awarded a contract from the city of Waterloo for 14 light rail transit vehicles for about $92.4 million.
Pasqualino said he knows the company was bidding on the contract but had not received confirmation on whether or not Bombardier was successful in that bid as of Thursday afternoon.
He did say he suspected Bombardier did have the contract.
Production on those cars would begin next year and delivery is expected to be in the summer of 2016.
