Canada's Unifor, GM start contract talks for CAMI assembly plant

(Reuters) - General Motors and Unifor have begun collective bargaining for workers at the automaker's CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario, the Canadian labour union said on Monday.

A strike mandate showed 97% of Unifor Local 88 members are in favour of a strike if an agreement is not reached by 10:59 p.m. on Sept. 17, the union said.

"Our focus remains on obtaining a contract that gives our members a good, predictable income," Unifor CAMI Plant Chairperson Mike Van Boekel said.

Unifor Local 88 represents more than 1,300 members at the CAMI Assembly plant who work on the manufacture of Ultium battery modules and electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet BrightDrop EV 600.

"GM is committed to working with our Unifor partners to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," the carmaker said in a statement to Reuters.

(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)