Effort underway to unionize NextStar employees

UNIFOR moves to unionize NextStar employees Unifor Local 444 is hosting information sessions in January to recruit new members set to work at NextStar.

Unifor Local 444 is hosting information sessions in January to recruit new members set to work at Canada’s first electric vehicle battery plant.

According to a post on social media, the local is hosting two separate meetings to accommodate both shifts.

Meetings will be at 3 p.m. and another at 6:45 p.m. on Friday Jan. 17 at the union hall on Turner Road.

The release indicates the union met with NextStar CEO Danies Lee “over the past several weeks” about the process of inking a first collective agreement for the workforce.

The union plans to explain the collective bargaining process and how it can “improves wages and working conditions.”

“The electric vehicle programs Unifor helped secure with Stellantis laid the groundwork for the NextStar Energy investment – Canada’s first ever battery ‘gigafactory’,” the release states. “Now, together, we will grow good jobs in this sector well into the future.”

When asked about the union news release NextStar would only say they have “entered into exploratory discussions with Unifor” and declined further comment.

According to NextStar officials the factory is 87 per cent complete and they are “targeting” the third quarter of 2025 for cell production.

Employees started making battery modules in October 2024.