A camper van and RV company in Cambridge, Ont., has issued temporary lay off notices to its entire plant in wake of U.S. tariffs on the auto industry.
As of Monday, around 80 employees at Roadtrek Inc. are out of work, according to Unifor Local 1106.
CTV News obtained a letter issued to employees on Friday that confirmed the company was making job cuts linked to the trade war.
“Due to changes to North American trade agreements and tariffs and subsequent influences to our business, which are beyond our control, we regret to inform you that Roadtrek Inc. has been forced to reduce production output,” the letter reads.
The company said it expects workers to be recalled on April 14. However, employees fear that won’t be the case.
“They don’t know what’s going to happen from day-to-day,” said Unifor Local 1106 president Ramon Souto. “Everyone knows that there’s tariffs that were imposed and not many employers know what the impact is going to be either, which puts our members at a very uneasy situation.”
In the days and weeks leading up to the layoffs, tariffs have been top of mind for many workers, including Roadtrek union rep Gary Hudson.
“We’ve basically been, I guess, working on eggshells,” he said.
Now that employees are out of work altogether, Hudson said there’s more uncertainty than ever.
“I wish I could give them the right answer and say, ‘Yeah, everything’s going to be great,‘’ he said. “But again, I don’t have those answers. And I don’t want to give anybody false hope.”
CTV News reached out to Roadtrek to respond to concerns raised by workers, but no one was available to comment as of Monday afternoon.
Despite the uncertainty, Hudson said he’s looking forward to getting back to work, whenever that may be.
“If we get back, then we know what we have to do,” he said. “Put our best foot forward and make sure we get those vehicles out.”
