Chrysler is going to need about 600 electricians as part of its retooling of the Windsor Assembly Plant.
"It's a huge job," says Karl Lovett, business manager at IBEW Local 773, representing Windsor and Chatham-Kent. "The biggest job that would've happened in the area would've been 1983 when they brought the minivan to Windsor, which pretty much saved Chrysler as a corporation. Since then, 1995 would have been the next biggest retooling that took place in the body shop. This project that's going to happen right now I would think is going to be a little bit bigger than that."
Lovett says now he needs to help secure accommodations for the influx of electricians that will come from across the province to stop workers from being gouged.
"If you know what happens in Fort McMurray and places like that, once you get there to go to work, the accommodation prices go right through the roof," says Lovett.
Automotive electricians will be drawn from IBEW locals in Sarnia, London, Kitchener, Hamilton and St. Catharines for work at Windsor's Chrysler plant during the retooling. Lovett expects the influx of electricians will be needed on the site into June.