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Local Tim Hortons Coffee Shops Suffer from CAMI Assembly Plant Strike

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With CAMI plant workers on strike, they are not only building fewer Equinoxes, but also ordering less coffee from Tim Hortons

Chevy Equinoxes and coffee shops are both in trouble? It’s the suburban apocalypse!
Photo: Tim Hortons

The strike initiated by Unifor workers at General Motor’s CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario has been ongoing for a little more than a week now. In that time, GM dealerships are already beginning to feel the pain, as the CAMI plant is a main producer of the Chevrolet Equinox, one of the automaker’s most popular models.

Of course, GM isn’t the only company that’s experiencing the effects of the strike. Tim Hortons, one of Canada’s largest restaurant chains, is also suffering.


Background on the Chevrolet Brand: History of Chevrolet


To be more specific, most of the suffering taking place is occurring at the Tim Hortons in the Ingersoll area. There are currently three such shops in the city.

One of the Tim Hortons’ biggest sources of revenue in Ingersoll throughout the week was the workers at the CAMI Assembly Plant. With those workers on strike, business has certainly not been booming.

“We called them CAMI rushes,” explained Chantelle Kuhlman, co-manager of two of  the three Tim Horton’s locations in Ingersoll. “With them being off work, we don’t have the rush anymore.”


More GM History: History of GMC


As a result, business for the Tim Hortons in Ingersoll has slowed to a crawl. The stores are losing hundreds of dollars a day since the strike first started.

Unfortunately, Tim Hortons may not be the only establishment in Ingersoll that suffers if negotiations don’t end well for the workers. Mike Van Boekel, the chair of Unifor Local 88, worries that if GM moves Equinox operations to another plant, then the city of Ingersoll will lose much of the opportunity and prosperity that the CAMI location created.

“The morale is very high [right now],” he explained. “But if this plant leaves, the whole community of Ingersoll becomes half a ghost town pretty quick.”

2018 Chevrolet Equinox exterior

The longevity and severity of the strike could have major effects for Chevy’s Equinox supply

GM moving Equinox production was one the primary fears that led to the strike in the first place. CAMI also used to be a major producer of the GMC Terrain, until GM moved production of that model to one of its plants in Mexico.

Both Tim Hortons and Unifor are hoping for an outcome that will benefit the Ingersoll area. Still, as the strike’s length prolongs, it’s unclear how this will all end.

News Source: CBC