(Reuters) – General Motors Co and the Unifor union said on Friday they had reached an interim agreement for the automaker to invest about C $ 1 billion ($ 785.42 million) in its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario , to manufacture commercial electric vans.
Under the interim agreement, which has not yet been ratified by union workers, GM has agreed to start large-scale commercial production of EV600, an electric van, at its CAMI plant, Unifor said in a statement.
The Detroit automaker said in a separate statement that work would begin immediately at the factory.
The new agreement is based on GM’s recent investments in Canada, which in November agreed to invest C $ 1 billion in its plant in Oshawa to expand production of its large pickup trucks.
The Canadian government welcomed the agreement and said it would confirm its support once union members have ratified the agreement.
“We look forward to the results of the ratification vote,” Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement.
Unifor, the union representing hourly workers in Canada, said more details of the deal would be presented to local union members at an online ratification meeting scheduled for January 17, the results of which are scheduled to be released a day later.
($ 1 = 1.2732 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru with additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Simon Cameron-Moore edition