TOGETHER WE WILL BUILD THE WORLD’S BEST PROPULSION SYSTEMS GM St. Catharines Employee Newsletter January 13, 2020

CREATING CHRISTMAS FOR OUR COMMUNITY

Thanks to the exceedingly generous support of our employees, our Adopt-a-Family (AAF) Christmas Campaign was once again a huge success!!

This year we adopted six families from Port Cares, Project SHARE, Community Care and the Salvation Army in order to support families from across the region, which were then divided up between the different business teams and departments. Donations were collected by Professional Manager Network (PMN) leads for each family who then purchased the contents of the families’ wish lists and delivered them to the agencies to drop off to each family. In addition to wish list items, families were also given wrapping paper and packing totes, a selection of non- perishable food items and grocery store gift cards. Gifts for our last two families were delivered on December 19, and we’re happy to announce that in total our employees raised an impressive $5,781 for this initiative!

The entire amount raised was more than enough to purchase all the wish list items for each family, so we were also able to donate to a few other agencies, including Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) Niagara. We traditionally support CCS in October with a Pink Day and gate collection for breast cancer awareness, but weren’t able to this year because of the layoff. Thankfully, we were able to donate $1,025 to them from the leftover AAF funds! Continued on page two...

GM St. Catharines Employee Newsletter

Sam Hoodless | ext. 6619 | [email protected] Employee Information Hotline: 1-877-868-3895 | Employee Portal: www.gmstcatharines.ca GM St. Catharines Employee Newsletter 2

Continued from page one...

Additionally, a last minute donation of a $150 grocery store gift card was donated to Westview Centre 4 Women to help stock their pantry for women in-need in St. Catharines.

And finally, in addition to raising funds for AAF, the GF6 Maintenance Team also raised $350 in honour of Team Leader, Sean Fiander who sadly passed away in early October. These funds were donated to the Lincoln County Humane Society in his memory.

Thank you to all of the PMN leads for their organization and dedication to this initiative, and a huge thank you to every employee who contributed to AAF – your generosity made this Christmas very happy for a lot of people across the Niagara Region!!

GATE COLLECTION RAISES $5,916; TOTAL DONATIONS EXCEED $18,000

On December 12, Unifor Local 199 held their annual Christmas Gate Collection onsite to collect funds for families in-need at Christmas. The response was once again overwhelming; $5,916 was collected at the gate from Unifor members, GM employees and contractors as they arrived to work. The Unifor Social Justice Fund donated an additional $11,500 and the Standing Committees donated $800. Total funds raised were over $18,000, these funds were donated to a variety of organizations in the Niagara Region including:  Community Care St. Catharines &  Project SHARE  The Hope Centre in  Community Outreach in Fort Eire  Gillian’s Place of South Niagara  YWCA Women’s Shelter  Port Cares in Port Colborne  The RAFT  Shoe Box Project  And Adopt a Youth Program

Thank you to everyone who opened their hearts and wallets to help families in-need this Christmas. Your generous donations helped put food in the food bank, purchased Christmas gifts for children, provided emergency assistance for families and much more.

Greg Brady President Unifor Local 199 GM St. Catharines Employee Newsletter 3

GM ST. CATHARINES IS THE SANTA BEHIND NIAGARA NUTRITION PARTNERS’ SANTA SURPRISE

For the fifth consecutive year, GM St. Catharines provided funds for Niagara Nutrition Partners’ (NNP) Santa Surprise to benefit selected schools with a student nutrition program. $5,000 worth of nutritious breakfast and snack foods was delivered to ten schools in Fort Erie and Port Colborne.

NNP coordinated the order and deliveries through Lococo’s which included clementines, whole wheat bagels, whole grain cereals, yogurt and cheese strings, among other items. Jessica Stephenson, Program Manager at NNP remarked “We are so fortunate to have community-minded partners like General Motors. Thank you, for ensuring the next generation of leaders are well-fed and ready to learn.”

The schools receiving this food donation are: Stevensville Public, St. Joseph Catholic Elementary – Snyder, St. Philomena Catholic Elementary, Garrison Road Public, St. Therese Catholic Elementary – Port Colborne, Lakeshore Catholic High School, Port Colborne High School, Oakwood Public, St. Patrick Catholic Elementary, and St. John Bosco Catholic Elementary.

Plant Director, Carolyne Watts had the opportunity to visit one of the recipient schools in December and see the nutrition program in action: “For many years, GM St. Catharines has been committed to driving change in the Niagara Region. There is no one more deserving of our support than the children who will one day be the future of our community. We are honored to assist NNP with such a worthwhile initiative.”

NNP is dedicated to organizing, educating and equipping 180 existing student nutrition programs and more than 800 volunteers who run individual programs in schools handling everything from food purchasing, preparation, serving and clean-up. The goals of the programs are to provide children with the necessary nutrition required for energy, concentration and ultimately an increased chance of success at school. NNP works with elementary and secondary schools within the DSBN, the NCDSB, Conseil Scolaire Viamonde and Conseil Scolaire Mon Avenir. In addition to provincial government grants, NNP relies on community fundraising for 85% of annual costs.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH BY THE NUMBERS

In total this year, we held 35 community outreach events, from $500 Draws, Days of Caring initiatives, gate collections, ribbon days, environmental initiatives, clothing donations, STEM events and more. We raised $287,520 for United Way Niagara through our Workplace Campaign—the largest workplace campaign in the Niagara Region. On top of that, our employee-led fundraisers and gate collections—that means money donated by you—raised $20,488 for more than 16 different local organizations!

IN TOTAL WE GAVE BACK OVER $333,000 TO OUR COMMUNITY LAST YEAR! Thank you to everyone for your incredible generosity in 2019. GM St. Catharines Employee Newsletter 4

THE COLDEST NIGHT IS COMING UP! WINTER SAFETY TIPS

GM St. Catharines is once again the Lead Here are a few reminders for parking lot safety during the winter weather: Sponsor of Start Me Up Niagara’s Coldest Night of the Year event to raise funds for  Number one – proper footwear! This means homelessness and poverty in the Niagara shoes or boots with grip soles such as rubber or Region! In addition to a $5,000 donation from the Plant neoprene composite, which will ensure good City Grant Program, GM St. Catharines has also traction on slippery surfaces. Slick leather or registered a team to collect donations and participate in plastic soles increase your risk of slipping the event.  Because we always have some vehicles in the Last year we had 20 team members and raised just over parking lot, it’s hard to completely clear and salt $3,000! This year’s event takes place on Saturday, parking spaces – so, hold onto your car door February 22, 2020. All GM employees (salaried, hourly, when exiting or entering your vehicle, take contract and third-party), your family and friends are short, shuffling steps in icy areas and get to a invited to participate. To join the team or donate visit designated pedestrian walkway as soon as possible cnoy.org and search for the Powertrain Walkers!  Don’t walk with your hands full or in your pockets, and focus on where you’re going (i.e. don’t look at your phone while walking!) – your arms help keep you balanced when you slip

 When entering the building be mindful of wet floors and stairs – wipe your shoes where possible and hold onto handrails

 And finally– report all safety concerns!!!

Stay safe out there!

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT— KRISTINA TOTH, CENTRAL MAINTENANCE

Central Maintenance would like to recognize Kristina Toth, Maintenance Clerk for overhauling an ill- functioning coverall program and turning it into an efficient, cost-effective system. For many years, Central Maintenance experienced a number of problems with the coverall program, like storage issues, lack of available coveralls and missing coveralls resulting in frustration from management and hourly employees alike. Kristina took it upon herself to assess the program and improve it. She audited every locker and found hundreds of misplaced coveralls, reviewed old invoices to identify previous charges and then contacted the vendor to dispute incorrect invoices resulting in a significant credit to our facility.

Kristina is currently working on a plan to eliminate these issues permanently and has established an ongoing audit process. During this process Kristina has exhibited many of our GM Behaviours including “Innovate Now,” “It’s On Me,” “Look Ahead” and “Be Bold”, and her hard work and dedication has reduced employee frustration and saved our plant a lot of money. Thank you, Kristina!

Central Maintenance