The Canadian union battling with Stellantis over plans to sell a large automotive plant outside of Toronto is now seeking information and intervention from the Canadian government.
Contract talks between Stellantis and Unifor, which represents about 8,000 of the automaker's employees in Canada, ground to a halt on Sept. 11 as Stellantis furthered plans to sell the Brampton Assembly Plant in Brampton, Ontario. The automaker entered a memorandum of understanding with Roshel, a defense contractor, to sell the plant. Unifor, however, says the sale is unacceptable and will cull the jobs of more than 2,000 Canadian autoworkers.
Stellantis and Unifor have until Sept. 20 to resolve the disagreements, when the current contract expires.
In the current contract,
signed in 2023, Stellantis committed to retooling the Brampton plant and building the Jeep Compass — which would have brought those Stellantis employees back from temporary layoff. The retool was delayed, and later, in 2025, Stellantis said it would be moving production of the Compass to the United States to avoid tariffs, angering Unifor.
Both Unifor and the Canadian federal government scolded Stellantis for the decision when it was made in October, with the government threatening to retract federal aid granted to the automaker.
Now, however, Unifor is asking the federal government: Who's side are you on?
In a letter issued to Canada's Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly, Unifor National President Lana Payne demanded the government answer whether the Canadian government will allow Stellantis to go through with the sale — or if it will back the unionized workforce.
"If successful in its attempts to sell the plant, Stellantis will have abandoned vehicle assembly at the Brampton facility, reducing its Canadian auto assembly footprint. The removal of auto assembly from Brampton means it is unlikely ever to return. This decision will impact more than 2,000 high-paid, union workers and hundreds of supplier firms, employing thousands in proximity to the plant," Payne wrote. "Canada’s economy will be worse-off as a result. I cannot state this in any clearer terms."
Previously, the Canadian government served Stellantis with a "notice of default" over its plans to move the Compass out of the country. In essence, the notice served as a threat to remove funding previously earmarked for the automaker.
In the letter, Payne asked if this plan — selling the plant to Roshel — would resolve that default notice, or if Stellantis will still remain in violation of a previous contract to commit automotive production to the country. Payne also asked Joly if she or her office were privy to the plan to sell and if they plan to support it.
"Have you or other representatives of the Canadian government indicated your support of the proposed plan by Roshel to purchase the Brampton Assembly Plant?" the letter reads.
Messages were left with both Stellantis and Joly's office seeking comment.
Payne said in the letter that Stellantis is unwilling to budge on its decision to sell the plant. Unifor bargaining leaders, however, refuse to sign a contract without a commitment for Brampton to stay open. Importantly, if the deal to sell the plant is green lit by the government — especially if it resolves Stellantis' default notice — that removes one key barrier for Stellantis to move forward with the sale of the plant.
"We cannot accept that the closure and sale of the Brampton plant is the outcome of a year-long government-led exercise to protect autoworkers and auto capacity in this country," Payne said. "The Stellantis proposal to sell the plant to a non-automaker never should have been considered in the first place and should be met with fierce resistance from the federal government."
The union said it will hold a news conference on Thursday, Sept. 17, to issue an update on negotiations with Stellantis.
Liam Rappleye covers Stellantis for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Union appeals to Canadian government to stop key Stellantis plant sale
