Canada’s autoworkers union, UNIFOR, is threatening to suspend contract talks with Stellantis.
The union wants the Canadian government to block a proposed sale of the automaker’s assembly plant in Brampton, northwest of Toronto.
UNIFOR also insists Stellantis is serious about getting rid of the Brampton plant, and that would mean the loss of thousands of jobs.
Talks on a new contract between Stellantis and UNIFOR came to a tense standstill 10 days ago. The two sides were trying to reach an agreement before the current collective agreement expired Sunday night.
What threw a major wrench into the negotiations was a memorandum of understanding Stellantis said it had reached with Roshel to buy the Brampton plant. Roshel is a Canadian manufacturer of armored vehicles.
But UNIFOR president Lana Payne said that’s 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 said there are other options that would protect the auto assembly footprint in Canada. But Brampton could become the first plant in the country to fall to the trade war with the White House.
"This, after all, is one of the best, most productive facilities in the Stellantis chain, building award-winning vehicles," Payne said. "A jewel in the crown. Suddenly, suddenly there was no future for Stellantis in Brampton. Suddenly there were no more options."
Local UNIFOR leader Vito Beato said the 2,000 workers in Brampton were ready to resume production of the Jeep Compass.
"We were supposed to be back to work right now as of today," Beato said. "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 said her union was never part of the discussions about a sale, and she wants the federal government in Ottawa to intervene. She said the union is considering strike action if Stellantis goes ahead and sells the Brampton assembly.
Industry minister Melanie Joly has gone on record that Stellantis to is expected to honor its commitments.
"We want a new model at the Stellantis plant and we’ll put maximum pressure to make that happen," Joly said. "If they don’t, we’ll get our money back."
The buyer — defense contractor Roshel — said it’s ready to commit to giving laid off UNIFOR workers first consideration and bring them back to work as soon as possible. But Payne said that’s not good enough.
"Let’s be clear here: This is a defense contractor," she said. "They exist by government procurement. It ... cannot compare to a commercial enterprise building vehicles."
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said selling the auto plant would be devastating to his community.
"It’s disappointing that this is yet another broken commitment from Stellantis," Brown said. "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 a letter to Stellantis employees, the company said market and trade conditions have impacted the original business case for Brampton and no options have emerged supporting a continued business case for the facility.
$500 million in public financing signed by Stellantis in 2022 bars the automaker from closing its Brampton plan before 2035 unless there are exceptional circumstances beyond Stellantis reasonable control, making the plant commercially unviable.
