The UNIFOR union representing Canadian autoworkers is threatening to halt contract negotiations with Stellantis.
The union is urging the Canadian government to prevent a proposed sale of the automaker’s assembly facility in Brampton, located northwest of Toronto.
UNIFOR claims that Stellantis is determined to divest from the Brampton plant, which could result in thousands of job losses.
Negotiations for a new contract between Stellantis and UNIFOR reached a difficult impasse ten days ago. The two parties were aiming for an agreement before the current collective contract expired on Sunday night.
A major complication arose from a memorandum of understanding that Stellantis stated it had established with Roshel regarding the purchase of the Brampton plant. Roshel is known as a Canadian manufacturer of armored vehicles.
However, UNIFOR president Lana Payne called this situation unacceptable.
“I want to be clear: Stellantis is 100% serious about exiting Brampton,” she said. “Currently, that is their only plan. Everyone needs to understand this, especially our governments.”
Payne mentioned that there are alternative solutions available that would help maintain automotive assembly operations in Canada. But she cautioned that Brampton might become the first plant in the country affected by trade tensions with Washington.
“This, after all, is one of the best, most productive facilities in the Stellantis chain, building award-winning vehicles,” Payne noted. “A jewel in the crown. Suddenly, suddenly there was no future for Stellantis in Brampton. Suddenly there were no more options.”
Local UNIFOR representative Vito Beato stated that the 2,000 workers at Brampton were prepared to restart production of the Jeep Compass.
“We were supposed to be back to work right now as of today,” Beato shared. “And when you look at our plant, it’s ready. It’s ready to go, and it’s ready to build and our members are ready to get to work.”
Payne expressed that her union was not involved in any discussions regarding a sale and called on the federal government in Ottawa for intervention. She also indicated that strike action could be considered if Stellantis proceeds with selling the Brampton assembly facility.
Industry minister Melanie Joly has stated publicly that she expects Stellantis to uphold its commitments.
“We want a new model at the Stellantis plant and we’ll put maximum pressure to make that happen,” Joly emphasized. “If they don’t, we’ll get our money back.”
The buyer – defense contractor Roshel – announced it’s prepared to offer laid-off UNIFOR workers priority consideration and bring them back into employment as soon as possible. However, Payne argued that’s not sufficient.
“Let’s be clear here: This is a defense contractor,” she remarked. “They exist by government procurement. It.. cannot compare to a commercial enterprise building vehicles.”
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown expressed concern about how selling the auto plant would severely impact his community.
“It’s disappointing that this is yet another broken commitment from Stellantis,” Brown commented. “It’s discouraging to know they’ve made a false pledge, a false promise to all these.. thousands of workers who spent their life working at this plant. They’ve treated them very poorly. They’ve treated the city poorly. Despite the fact this company, Stellantis, has received hundreds of millions of dollars in Canadian taxpayer subsidies.”
In correspondence directed toward Stellantis employees, the company indicated market and trade conditions have influenced its initial business rationale for Brampton and no alternatives have surfaced supporting ongoing operations at this facility.
$500 million in public financing signed by Stellantis in 2022 prohibits closing its Brampton plan before 2035 unless exceptional circumstances beyond its reasonable control render it commercially unviable.window. fb Async Init = function() { FB. init({ app Id : ‘338882633976224’, xfbml : true, version : ‘v2.9′ }); }; (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs=d. get Elements By Tag Name(s)[0]; if(d. get Element By Id(id)){return;} js=d. create Element(s); js. id=id; js. src=”https://connect. facebook. net/en_US/sdk. js”; fjs. parent Node. insert Before(js, fjs); }(document,’script’,’facebook-jssdk’));
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