It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Regina woman, 34, questions age criteria for federal subsidy after being passed over for jobs
Social Sharing
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Reddit
LinkedIn
Positions funded by Canada Summer Jobs wage subsidy
Janette Harrison, 34, is questioning why federally funded summer jobs are only eligible for people in a certain age range. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)
Janette Harrison often feels dread and anxiety over how she'll afford life for herself and her toddler son.
Harrison, 34, said she returned to school to turn her life around. She recently finished her first year of the mental health and wellness program at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. Now, she's hunting for a summer job.
A few interested employers have called back, she said, but ultimately they had to hire someone else because of her age.
"I was totally shocked," Harrison told CBC News in her Regina home.
"They said [it's] because they're funded by the federal government and they've put [an age] cap on it."
The Canada Summer Jobs wage subsidy allows non-profit organizations, the public sector and private companies with no more than 50 full-time employees to create jobs for people aged 15 to 30.
Jobs funded by the Canada Summer Jobs wage subsidy are only for people aged 15 to 30. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)
The age range for the summer job subsidy was chosen because 15 is the minimum employment age for most provinces and territories, and the gap makes jobs accessible to more people, said Saskia Rodenburg, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Employment and Social Development.
The subsidy falls under the federal Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, which aims to help young Canadians — particularly those facing barriers, such as poverty, high-school dropouts and youth with disabilities, among others — enter the workforce and gain experience.
Many students end up filling jobs funded through the subsidy. But Rodenburg said targeting youth employment, instead of student employment, was an effort to make the job market more equitable for "youth furthest from opportunity and youth who face financial limitations with school."
The federal government is targeting youth employment overall because, historically, youth have higher unemployment rates than the general labour force, Rodenburg added.
Meanwhile, about 12.1 per cent of Canadian teenagers, aged 15 to 19, were unemployed last year — more than double that of the general labour force, data shows.
Canadians in their early 20s also experienced higher unemployment rates, averaging about 8.5 per cent last fiscal year, data shows. The unemployment rate for Canadians aged 25 to 29 nearly mimicked that of the general labour force.
Data shows unemployment rates in Saskatchewan are lower — and sometimes more volatile month-to-month, depending on the demographic — than Canada as a whole, but the same trends emerge.
Harrison had applied for jobs in line with her training, such as office administrative work and summer recreational planning for children.
Harrison, who co-parents her two-year-old son, budgeted how much income she would need to afford to attend post-secondary, including the summer months. But she's becoming desperate and she's considering applying for construction labourer jobs.
Janette Harrison has been applying for jobs in line with her training, but she's considering applying for labour jobs as well. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)
The anxiety wakes her at night, she said.
"I get this pit in my stomach," she said.
"I'm just panicked. I have to keep a roof over our heads, food in the fridge. Daycare is a huge thing for [my son's] social skills and his routine — and for my routine, for me to get things done throughout the day."
Harrison added that multiple classmates are also in the same boat, applying for jobs but finding their age disqualifies them.
Post-secondary students of all ages can gain paid work experience relevant to their field through the Student Work Placement Program, Rodenburg said.
Through the program, the ministry works with "employer delivery partners," a group of recognized associations and organizations that advocate for industry employers, according to the ministry's website.
Those partners work with businesses and post-secondary institutions to create placements, such as practicums and internships, the website says.
The Real Reason Your Groceries Are Getting So Expensive
Credit...Zak Tebbal
By Stacy Mitchell Ms. Mitchell is an executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
Food Fresh is the only grocery store in a rural stretch of southeastern Georgia. It has many five-star Google reviews praising its freshly butchered meats, tomato bar and friendly service. Yet it faces a threat to its survival that no amount of management skill can overcome. Big retailers like Walmart and Kroger “have a handle on suppliers that I can’t touch,” said Food Fresh’s owner, Michael Gay. The chains wrest deep discounts from suppliers, making it impossible for the store to come close to matching the chains’ prices.
To understand why grocery prices are way up, we need to look past the headlines about inflation and reconsider long-held ideas about the benefits of corporate bigness.
Like other independent grocers, Food Fresh buys through large national wholesalers that purchase goods by the truckload, achieving the same volume efficiencies the big chains do. What accounts for the difference in price is not efficiency but raw market power. Major grocery suppliers, including Kraft Heinz, General Mills and Clorox, rely on Walmart for more than 20 percent of their sales. So when Walmart demands special deals, suppliers can’t say no. And as suppliers cut special deals for Walmart and other large chains, they make up for the lost revenue by charging smaller retailers even more, something economists refer to as the water bed effect.
This isn’t competition. It’s big retailers exploiting their financial control over suppliers to hobble smaller competitors. Our failure to put a stop to it has warped our entire food system. It has driven independent grocers out of business and created food deserts. It has spurred consolidation among food processors, which has slashed the share of food dollars going to farmers and created dangerous bottlenecks in the production of meat and other essentials. And in a perverse twist, it has raised food prices for everyone, no matter where you shop.
A level playing field was long a tenet of U.S. antitrust policy. In the 19th century, Congress barred railroads from favoring some shippers over others. It applied this principle to retailing in 1936 with the Robinson-Patman Act, which mandates that suppliers offer the same terms to all retailers. The act allows large retailers to claim discounts based on actual volume efficiencies but blocks them from extracting deals that aren’t also made available to their competitors. For roughly four decades, the Federal Trade Commission vigorously enforced the act. From 1954 to 1965, the agency issued 81 cease-and-desist orders to stop suppliers of milk, tea, oatmeal, candy and other foods from giving preferential prices to the largest grocery chains.
As a result, the grocery retailing sector was enviable by today’s standards. Independent grocery stores flourished, accounting for more than half of food sales in 1958. Supermarket chains like Safeway and Kroger also thrived. This dynamism fed a broad prosperity. Even the smallest towns and poorest neighborhoods could generally count on having a grocery store. And the industry’s diffuse structure ensured that its fruits were widely distributed. Of the nearly nine million people working in retailing overall in the mid-1950s, nearly two million owned or co-owned the store where they worked. There were more Black-owned grocery stores in 1969 than there are today.
Then, amid the economic chaos and inflation of the late 1970s, the law fell into disfavor with regulators, who had come to believe that allowing large retailers to flex more muscle over suppliers would lower consumer prices. For the most part, the law hasn’t been enforced since. As a top Reagan administration official explained in 1981, antitrust was no longer “concerned with fairness to smaller competitors.”
This was a serious miscalculation. Walmart, which seized the opening and soon became notorious for strong-arming suppliers and undercutting local businesses, now captures one in four dollars Americans spend on groceries. Its rise spurred a cascade of supermarket mergers, as other chains sought to match its leverage over suppliers. If the latest of these mergers — Kroger’s bid to buy Albertsons — goes through, just five retailers will control about 55 percent of grocery sales. Food processors in turn sought to counterbalance the retailers by merging. Supermarket aisles may seem to brim with variety, but most of the brands you see are made by just a few conglomerates.
These food giants are now the dominant buyers of crops and livestock. The lack of competition has contributed to the decline in farmers’ share of the consumer grocery dollar, which has fallen by more than half since the 1980s. In the absence of rivals, food conglomerates have over time increasingly been able to raise prices and as a result have reported soaring profits over the past two years. Inflation gives them a cover story, but it’s the lack of competition that allows them to get away with it. Meat prices surged last year among the four companies that control most pork, beef and poultry processing. Companies like PepsiCo and General Mills have also jacked up prices without seeing any loss of sales — a sure sign of uncontested market power.
This has resulted in an ever-worsening cycle: As a system dominated by a few retailers lifts prices across the board — even at Walmart — consumers head to those retailers because of their ability to wrest relatively lower prices or simply because they’re the only options left. Walmart’s share of grocery sales swelled last year as more people flocked to its stores.
Meanwhile, the decline of independent grocers, which disproportionately serve rural small towns and Black and Latinoneighborhoods, has left debilitating gaps in our food system. If Food Fresh were to close, residents of Evans County, where the store is, would have to subsist on the limited range of packaged foods sold at a local dollar store or drive about 25 minutes to reach a Walmart. (Nearly a quarter of Evans County residents live in poverty.) Living without a grocery store nearby imposes a daily hardship on people and could lead to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and other diet-related illnesses.
Losing small retailers also stifles innovation. New food companies rely on independent retailers to introduce products. But as this diversity of retailers gives way to a monocrop of big chains, start-ups have fewer avenues to success. This results in diminished selection for shoppers, who find store shelves stocked with only what the big food conglomerates choose to produce.
We need to stop big retailers from using their enormous financial leverage over suppliers to tilt the playing field. By resurrecting the Robinson-Patman Act, we could begin to put an end to decades of misguided antitrust policy in which regulators abandoned fair competition in favor of ever-greater corporate scale. There is promising momentum. Last year an unusual coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the F.T.C. urging it to dust off Robinson-Patman. The agency began a broad inquiry in late 2021 into grocery supply issues, which could uncover evidence of price discrimination. This year the agency opened investigations into soft drink and alcohol suppliers for possible violations of the act.
These moves are already drawing fire from an old guard locked in bigger-is-always-better thinking. Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who served as a top adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted recently that some of the views calling for a reset of our antitrust policies often seem “grounded less in consumer welfare and more in a view that everyone should be shopping at expensive craft boutiques.” But that’s not the story in places like Evans County. In the early days of the pandemic, as Walmart and Amazon compelled manufacturers to steer scarce supplies their way and worsened shortages at local grocers, Mr. Gay worked long days hustling to find alternate sources.
“My meat is fresher,” he said. “My produce is fresher. My customer service is better. Imagine if you made the playing field level. Imagine what I could do.”
Li-Cycle CEO Ajay Kochhar speaks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President of the European Union Ursula von der Leyen during a tour of Li-Cycle's Kingston location on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. PHOTO BY STEPH CROSIER/THE WHIG-STANDARD/POSTMEDIA NETWORK
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s first visit to Canada earlier this year included only two stops
The main one, of course, was Ottawa, where she met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and addressed Parliament.
Von der Leyen’s second stop was a bit of surprise. Dignitaries of her stature would normally add Toronto or Montreal to their itineraries. Instead, Trudeau and von der Leyen motored two hours southwest to Kingston, Ont., Canada’s 24th largest city, according to Statistics Canada, with a population of about 173,000 people.
Kingston is home to the Royal Military College, and Russia’s war with Ukraine was an important theme of von der Leyen’s visit. So, the tiny city at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario made for a suitable backdrop.
Capt. Bradley Hoople escorts Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen at Canadian Forces Base Kingston, Ont.
PHOTO BY ELLIOT FERGUSON/THE WHIG-STANDARD/POSTMEDIA NETWORK
But there were soldiers in Ottawa. What the national capital lacked was a way to amplify how Canada could help with von der Leyen’s second priority: securing a supply of the minerals that will be needed for the energy transition
That’s where Kingston came in. The city isn’t renowned for extracting minerals, but it’s becoming an unlikely hub for recycling them, which became apparent in early May when Swiss commodities giant Glencore PLC teamed with Kington’s Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. to help it build what could become Europe’s biggest battery recycling plant at an old lead refinery in Italy.
Geopolitical cameo
The EU estimated it will require 60 times its current amount of lithium to attain climate neutrality by 2050.
Von der Leyen and Trudeau spent part of March 7 visiting Li-Cycle’s new facilities, giving the upstart a brief cameo on the geopolitical stage.
Western democracies have spent much of the past year organizing to weaken China’s influence over the supply of the minerals and other inputs that go into the technology that will power the green economy.
SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH
Canada, Quebec to provide about C$300 million for GM-POSCO battery materials facility
By Reuters Staff
May 29, 2023
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada’s federal government and the Quebec province will each provide about C$150 million ($112 million) for a General Motors-POSCO Chemical battery materials facility that is expected create about 200 jobs in the country, the Canadian industry ministry said on Monday.
The U.S. carmaker and South Korea’s POSCO outlined their plan last year to build the facility in Becancour, Quebec, to produce cathode active material (CAM) for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The companies aim to have the plant, described on Monday as a more than C$600-million project, running by 2025.
CAM includes components like processed nickel, lithium and other materials that make up about 40% of the cost of a battery, the industry ministry said in a statement.
Canada is home to a large mining sector for minerals including lithium, nickel and cobalt, and has been trying to woo companies involved in all levels of the EV supply chain via a multi-billion-dollar green technology fund as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.
“This investment in GM-POSCO’s new facility in Becancour will help further position Quebec as a key hub in Canada’s growing EV supply chain,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said.
The CAM produced at the plant will be used to make GM’s Ultium batteries that will power the company’s EVs, such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV and Cadillac LYRIQ.
Job creation tied to Windsor, Ont., Stellantis EV battery plant compared to 'musical chairs': prof
Social Sharing
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Reddit
LinkedIn
RIGHT WING BOURGEOIS ECONOMIST
Ian Lee thinks governments will give Stellantis what it wants
because of 'politics' and 'optics'
CBC News ·
Crushed stone bound for the Stellantis-LG Energy Solution EV battery plant project is loaded onto a truck in Windsor, Ont. (Darrin Di Carlo/CBC)
A Carleton University business professor is casting doubt on the number of jobs that will be added to Windsor's economy by an electric vehicle battery factory.
Ian Lee says the country's unemployment level is the lowest it's been since the 1960s and calls the idea that Ontario is desperate to create new jobs as "nonsense," adding the province is already seeing a critical shortage of workers.
Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will draw many of their employees from other plants that are already operating in the region, he says.
"What's going to happen is these companies are going to be — they're not going to admit this publicly — but they're going to be poaching and robbing and soliciting skilled employees from other companies nearby because they need the workers to work there," Lee said.
WATCH | U.S. economy and new incentives put Canada at disadvantage in Stellantis negotiations, prof says
On Friday, Windsor's mayor circulated a petition for residents to sign calling on Ottawa to finalize the NextStar EV battery plant deal.
Drew Dilkens says it would be "unacceptable" for Ottawa to not close out the agreement, and fulfill financial promises. And that stalled talks between Stellantis and governments have left him feeling "deeply concerned."
Earlier this month, Stellantis halted work on its construction of the Windsor battery plant saying it was looking for "contingency plans," and that Ottawa hadn't kept its negotiation promises. The facility was due to open next year after construction began in 2022.
New legislation in the U.S. allows for unprecedented incentive offers for companies, making it extremely challenging for Canada to compete.
WATCH | How a U.S. law contributed to the stalling of the Stellantis plant | About That
Unlike in 2009 when GM and Chrysler were bailed out, Lee doesn't think putting up more money for Stellantis makes sense for the province or Ottawa this time around.
They're going to be robbing Peter to pay Paul. That's not creating jobs.- Ian Lee, business prof
"They need skilled workers. So they're going to go and grab workers from Magna or from GM or from Ford. They're going to be robbing Peter to pay Paul. That's not creating jobs."
"All you're doing is musical chairs circulating the jobs in that economy. So it's not going to produce a net increase in job creation."
The site of the new EV battery plant in Windsor, Ont. The plant was expected to be operational in 2024 until construction stopped earlier in May. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC)
Aside from the economic might of the U.S., and Canada and Ontario experiencing a labour shortage, Lee still thinks both levels of government will end up forking over enough money to salvage the deal because of what he calls the "politics" and the "optics" of what's gone on historically in Windsor.
"It's so seductive for a politician, for a leader to say to stand up before the microphones at those announcements … and say, 'I am here to save you, I am producing. I am going to sign billions of dollars to make sure that you are saved."
Instead of forking over more money to save the electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Lee says both senior levels of government could be spending "more productively" on things such as critical minerals.
"There's a desperate shortage of critical minerals. And that's what we should be doing. But unfortunately, I think they're going to put it into this plant and match or meet the demands of Stellantis and LG."
Business professor Ian Lee says he thinks if Windsor's Stellantis EV battery plant does move ahead it will take workers from similar jobs and not add new ones to the region. (CBC)
The vice president of investment attraction and strategic initiatives for Invest WindsorEssex says he's expecting an answer from Stellantis one way or another later this week.
Joe Goncalves said last week he's heard from U.S. sources that Stellantis is mulling over an existing facility in Michigan that could be transformed into housing a battery module plant.
"I think the company's going to have to make a decision because delaying the construction of the module facility will delay supplying of the vehicle launches — so that it will cost a lot more money to these companies," he said.
"What the mayor is doing [circulating an online petition] is exactly what we need to be doing and we need to be out there in force and pushing this."
Goncalves says over the last 15 to 20 years, Windsor has been struggling to redefine itself, and high local unemployment numbers support that.
In April, Windsor's unemployment rate stood at 6.4 per cent. In March, it stood at 8.3 per cent — the highest rate among major cities in Canada.
"This is a generational opportunity for our community and the mayor of the city and the council. The city saw this opportunity. That's why they made the investments that they made, because they know this investment is just not for today. It's for the next hundred years."
In the automotive supply chain, and sector as a whole, Goncalves says he thinks Windsor can become a hub for battery manufacturing.
"Whether it's mines and minerals and different innovations, and in different supply chain companies from battery cases … We can be the leaders, but we have to be brave about it. We have to take a leap of faith.
Samsung SDI and Stellantis this week have agreed to invest more than $2.5 billion in an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the car manufacturing rustbelt of the U.S. as the nation’s automobile industry starts to electrify.
Slated to start production in 2025, the Kokomo, Ind., plant will have an initial annual production capacity of 23 gigawatt hours (GWh), with an aim to increase to 33 GWh in the next few years.
The total investment would increase to as much as $3.1 billion if demand for Stellantis EVs takes off. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in an interview with CNBC that he expects a shortage of EV batteries to emerge during the 2024–2025 period, accentuated by scarcities of raw materials for batteries that will slow adoption of EVs by the 2027–2028 timeframe.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares (Source: Shutterstock)
“Just under one year ago, we committed to an aggressive electrification strategy anchored by five gigafactories between Europe and North America,” Tavares said in a press statement on the Indiana joint venture. “Today’s announcement further solidifies our global battery production footprint and demonstrates Stellantis’ drive toward a decarbonized future.”
The Indiana EV battery joint venture comes at the same time as the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, Foxconn, agreed to revamp a plant in the neighboring state of Ohio for production of electric trucks.
Foxconn agreed this month to buy the former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio, for $230 million. The Taiwanese company, which is considered the largest manufacturer of iPhones for Apple, plans to build EVs for clients that include electric truck maker Fisker.
The battery plant is projected to create 1,400 new jobs in Kokomo and surrounding areas. Tavares called Kokomo a city that holds “a rich and long history for our company”. Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram vehicles in the U.S., last year announced plans to spend nearly $230 million to retool three factories in the city to make transmissions that can be used with gas–powered engines, as well as hybrid systems.
Samsung SDI will provide battery and electronic materials technologies as a member of the joint venture with Stellantis.
“We have secured a solid foothold in a rapidly growing North American EV market through the joint venture with Stellantis,” said Yoonho Choi, CEO of Samsung SDI. We will contribute towards meeting the climate change target.”
Samsung SDI will use its PRiMX technology to produce EV battery cells and modules for the North American market. Samsung launched PRiMX as a premium battery brand and an industry first last year at CES 2022 in January.
As part of its Dare Forward 2030 strategy, Stellantis aims for global annual battery EV sales in 5 million vehicles by 2030, reaching 100% of passenger car sales in Europe and 50% passenger car and light–duty truck sales in North America. Stellantis also aims to increase battery capacity by 140 GWh to approximately 400 GWh, to be supported by five battery manufacturing plants together with additional supply contracts.
The announcement is part of the company’s long–term electrification strategy to invest $35 billion through 2025 in electrification and software globally.
Stellantis Invests In Silicon Valley Maker Of
Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Lyten's batteries do not use nickel, cobalt, and manganese and could power future Stellantis models
by Brad Anderson May 26, 2023
Stellantis’ corporate venture fund has announced an investment in Lyton, a battery manufacturer based in Silicon Valley that has developed innovative new lithium-sulfur batteries and is also a pioneer of three-dimensional graphene.
It is unclear how much Stellantis Ventures has invested in Lyten but what we do know is that the company’s lithium-sulfur batteries do not use nickel, cobalt, or manganese. This reduces the carbon footprint of the batteries by approximately 60% from traditional lithium-ion batteries. Lyten can also source the raw materials for its batteries in North America and Europe.
“We are delighted that Stellantis Ventures, as the venture investment arm of a global automotive innovator, has demonstrated a strong belief in our company and our Lyten 3D Graphene™ decarbonizing supermaterials,” president and chief executive of Lyten, Dan Cook said.
Lyten’s innovative 3D graphene takes the form of a tunable decarbonization supermaterial engineered from natural gas. It is significantly more chemically and electrically reactive than traditional two-dimensional graphene. The company’s lithium-sulfur batteries and 3D graphene materials are initially being produced at a 145,000-square-foot campus in Silicon Valley.
“Having recently visited Lyten together with our CTO Ned Curic and our head of Stellantis Ventures, Adam Bazih, we walked away impressed by the potential of this technology to help drive clean, safe and affordable mobility,” Stellantis chief executive Carlos Tavares said. “Lyten’s materials platform is a key investment for Stellantis Ventures, in line with our Dare Forward 2030 goal to accelerate the deployment of innovative, customer-centric technologies. Specifically, Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery has the potential to be a key ingredient in enabling mass-market EV adoption globally, and their material technology is equally well positioned to help reduce vehicle weight, which is all necessary for our industry to achieve carbon net zero goals.”
Lyten hopes to begin deliveries of its lithium-sulfur batteries and 3D graphene-infused composites for specialty markets later this year. It is unclear when Stellantis will start to use these batteries.
Samsung SDI, Stellantis pick Indiana for US EV
battery plant
The factory, which is expected to cost over $1.6 bn, will produce 23 GWh/year from H1 2025 with the capacity to rise up to 40 GWh
By Hyung-Kyu Kim May 24, 2022
Stellantis showcases its EVs at CES 2022 in Las Vegas in January (Courtesy of Stellantis)
Samsung SDI Co., the world’s sixth-largest battery maker, and Dutch-domiciled multinational automaker Stellantis N.V. picked the state of Indiana as a site for a joint electric vehicle battery plant in the US, Reuters reported on Monday.
Samsung SDI and Stellantis are scheduled to sign a deal this week in Indiana for the facility, which is reportedly to cost more than 2 trillion won ($1.6 billion).
The South Korean battery manufacturer aims to produce 23 gigawatt hours (GWh) of prismatic battery cells and modules a year at the plant, its first US battery production facility, from the first half of 2025 for Stellantis’ car factories in North America. The output is enough for about 300,000 EVs that can drive 500 kilometers (311 miles) with a single charge.
Samsung SDI and Stellantis plan to expand the battery plant’s capacity to 40 GWh a year with additional investment in the future.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares (left) and Samsung SDI CEO Jun Young-hyun shake hands on Oct. 27, 2021 (Courtesy of Samsung SDI)
TO BE LOCATED IN KOKOMO
The factory is expected to be built near Stellantis engine, casting and transmission plants in Kokomo, Indiana. Those plants may be converted into EV facilities since the eco-friendly vehicles do not need engines and transmissions, some industry sources speculated.
Stellantis produces the Jeep, Dodge Ram brands in eight assembly plants in the US including ones in Michigan, the home to the US auto industry.
The Detroit News reported Indiana won the investment from Samsung SDI and Stellantis, beating Michigan, as the state provided more incentives.
Stellantis plans to build two battery plants in North America and three in Europe to secure batteries of 400 GWh a year by 2030.
It partnered with LG Energy Solution Ltd., the world’s second-largest battery maker, to establish a joint battery factory in Ontario, Canada, to produce 45 GWh per year with an investment of $4.1 billion. The plant is scheduled to begin mass production in 2024.
Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
Stellantis Will Buy Out Thousands of Hourly
Employees to Cut Costs for EV Making
Adam Ismail April 26, 2023· Photo of a Jeep Grand Cherokee L being assembled at Stellantis' Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit.
Stellantis will part ways with thousands of union employees in the coming months, Honda has a plan, and life sure is good for battery-maker LG. All that and more in this edition of The Morning Shift for Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
1st Gear: Stellantis Must Downsize
Electric cars are expensive to make, which is something Stellantis’ Carlos Tavares has been candid about in the past. It’s for this reason that Tavares has been beating the drum about a need to cut costs as the company prepares to launch 25 new all-electric models across its wealth of brands. To that end, the company will shed roughly 3,500 hourly jobs in the U.S. through buyouts and retirement incentives before new contract negotiations kick off with the United Auto Workers union later this year. Courtesy Automotive News:
UAW Local 1264, which represents the Stellantis stamping plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., said in a letter to members that the offers would be made “corporate wide.”
Retirement-eligible workers hired before ratification of Chrysler’s 2007 contract with the UAW can receive $50,000 to leave their job, according to the letter, which Local 1264 posted Monday on Facebook. Employees who have been with the company for at least a year would be eligible for a lump-sum benefit payment, the letter said, without specifying how much that would be.
Workers can sign up for either package from May 6 through June 19. Departure dates are tentatively scheduled for June 30 through Dec. 31, depending on each plant’s needs.
The openings would be filled by workers on indefinite layoff, the letter said.
A Stellantis spokesperson didn’t immediately comment on the plan.
The 3,500-job target would represent about 8 percent of the 43,000 hourly workers who were eligible to collect a profit-sharing check from Stellantis in March.
CLIMATE CRISIS ‘Crazier’ wildfires a growing threat to Canadian communities, experts warn
By Brenna Owen The Canadian Press Posted May 30, 2023
WATCH: Nova Scotia wildfire: Raging blaze forces 16,000+ Nova Scotians from their homes
The fire department in Slave Lake, Alta., had a long-standing plan for tackling wildfire encroaching on the community, but in May 2011, flames from a nearby forest blew over suppression efforts and destroyed several hundred homes and other buildings.
“I think that was the most shocking time of my entire career and maybe of my life, where you’re so sure that something’s going to work, and then it doesn’t – with crushing consequences,” said Jamie Coutts, the former Slave Lake fire chief.
A firefighter for more than 30 years, Coutts said wildfires have been burning “hotter, faster (and) crazier” over the last decade, and “every single person that lives in the forest is on a collision course with something disastrous happening.”
Research suggests that so-called interface fires, which occur where forests and flames meet human development, are on the rise.
An interface fire crashed into suburban Halifax on Sunday, destroying or damaging dozens of homes in the west of the city.
The Nova Scotia blaze follows early season wildfires that have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate from their homes in Alberta.
Sandy Erni, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service focusing on fire risk, said interface fires can involve either residential neighbourhoods or industrial infrastructure.
Erni is the co-author of a 2021 study that used greenhouse-gas emissions scenarios established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to model potential increases in wildland-human interface fires by the end of this century.
The study published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research concluded that interface fires are increasing in frequency, particularly in northern and central areas, and the number of people exposed to the blazes is likely to grow considerably.
Fortunately, in Canada, people are mostly escaping wildfires with their lives, said Coutts, although a fast-moving blaze killed two people and destroyed much of the village of Lytton in British Columbia’s southern Interior in late June 2021.
In northern California, 85 people were killed in 2018 when a wildfire turned into an urban inferno that destroyed most of the town of Paradise.
“What would the pushback be from the public in Canada if people started to die, and why do we have to wait for that?” Coutts said in an interview.
“Why can’t we make a change now, before we have those kinds of losses?”
Global News Morning Edmonton: Alberta wildfires trending upwards in past decade close video
Coutts wants to see a more widespread adoption of FireSmart guidelines, which aim to reduce wildfire risks to homes, communities and critical infrastructure, as well as changes to national and provincial building codes to address building materials, the space allowed between structures and the proximity of trees.
Some homeowners may choose to reduce the risk of interface fire by removing trees and vegetation, installing sprinklers and choosing less flammable materials for roofing and siding, he said, although not everyone can afford such measures.
Wildfire is unpredictable, especially when wind is a factor, said Coutts, adding he’s seen people’s homes burn after they did “all the right things” to reduce the risk.
Erni said the Canadian government has undertaken a national wildfire risk assessment, with mapping set to be publicly released next year.
Each region and community has its own risk profile depending on factors including the local climate and the types of trees and vegetation in the surrounding forest.
In general, communities within the Boreal zone _ which encompasses 75 per cent of the country’s forests and woodlands _ are at higher risk than others, said Erni, who’s based at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
The rising threat of interface fire is clear, but without regionally specific climate modelling, it’s hard to say exactly how that risk will change over time, she said.
Nova Scotia wildfires are 'out of control' and forcing 16,000 people from their homes
ByMichelle Watson and Zoe Sottile, CNN, CNNWire Monday, May 29, 2023
Nova Scotia wildfires raging near Halifax have triggered the evacuation of more than 16,000 Canadians.
Raging wildfires that have burned through thousands of acres have forced more than 16,000 Canadians to evacuate their homes and triggered a burn ban in Nova Scotia, as the region experiences record-breaking heat.
Officials say the fires, which span a total of more than 25,000 acres and have been deemed "out of control" by officials, have destroyed multiple buildings and caused huge plumes of smoke to tower over the region. As of Monday, more than 16,000 people were forced to evacuate the area around Halifax, Nova Scotia's largest city.
The number of people who have been forced from their homes is about 16,429, Erica Fleck, Division Chief of Emergency Management of the Halifax Regional Municipality, said in a news conference Monday.
Authorities also said about 400 people have been evacuated from Shelbourne County in southwest Nova Scotia.
"Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by these fires," Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said. "We know you are experiencing uncertainty and distress. We see that and want to try to ease a small portion of the financial stress."
Every household required to evacuate will receive $500 administered through the Canadian Red Cross, according to a Monday news release. The funds are intended to help with what Houston called "urgent needs such as food and personal care items."
Officials in Nova Scotia also announced a province wide burn ban Monday due to the "seriousness of the current fires."
"The ban will remain in place until June 25 unless the Province determines it can be lifted sooner," officials said in a news release. "Anyone who contravenes the ban can be subject to prosecution under the Forest Act." Trudeau: 'Wildfire situation in Nova Scotia is incredibly serious'
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the wildfires "incredibly serious" in a tweet Monday.
"We stand ready to provide any federal support and assistance needed," Trudeau said. "We're keeping everyone affected in our thoughts, and we're thanking those who are working hard to keep people safe."
A wildfire burning in Nova Scotia's Westwood Hills and Tantallon areas is "out of control," a Monday news release said. The blaze currently spans about 1,947 acres.
More than 200 crews from agencies across the province have been sent to help battle the blaze. Officials say there are 35 fire trucks, two helicopters and a water bomber being used as officials cautioned wind gusts of up to 40 mph could cause the fire to spread.
Another fire, which is burning in the Barrington Lake and Shelburne County areas in southwest Nova Scotia, continued to rapidly grow Monday. The blaze, which is officials say is also "out of control," scorched nearly 24,000 acres as of Monday evening, a news release said. Officials in the release noted "some structures have been destroyed and others are threatened, but there are no firm details on the numbers yet from the area."
As Nova Scotia deals with the fires, the western province of Alberta has been battling wildfires for weeks, CNN previously reported. A Sunday release from its emergency management arm said about 3,501 people remain evacuated and "more than 2,700 personnel" continue to fight the blaze.
Fire danger in Alberta is still "very high or extreme in the northern regions of the province, moderate to very high in the central and southern regions, and moderate to very high from the central region to the northern slopes of the Rocky Mountains," the Sunday release said.
Copyright 2023 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
