Wheels 2020 Newsmaker of the Year Jerry Dias 2020 may have been a year of calamity for many, but Dias can be said to have help bring auto manufacturing back from the brink in Ontario By: Stephanie Wallcraft December 24, 2020 Comments 0 SHARES If Canadian automotive manufacturing is an orchestra of sorts, then Jerry Dias could be viewed as the conductor. Dias has made a 40-plus year career of union work, from beginning as a shop steward to being elected National President of Unifor in 2013. But his watershed moment came this autumn when he successfully negotiated collective agreements with all three Detroit automakers to keep vehicle production in Canada, including crucial commitments for electric vehicle production thanks to investment from the federal and Ontario provincial governments.