Unifor calls strike votes at Stellantis as Windsor plant heads into three more idle weeks

Unifor will hold strike authorization votes for its Stellantis members on Oct. 17 and 18, with results to be announced Oct. 19, the union said Tuesday, as contract talks with the automaker remain stuck over the future of its Canadian operations. In its statement, Unifor stressed that a strike mandate gives the bargaining committee the power to call a strike if necessary but does not mean a walkout will automatically follow.

The union said it had tried to reach a tentative agreement with Stellantis without a strike vote, as it did with Ford and General Motors earlier this year. It said several key issues are unresolved, including the future of the Brampton Assembly Plant and the company’s insistence that the core economic pattern be conditional on an agreement to close and sell that plant. “To be clear, the unresolved issues with the company extend well beyond the future of the Brampton Assembly Plant,” the union said. “They relate to the broader job security of all union members and the future of Stellantis operations across Canada.” It called strike action “a last resort,” but said the ability to strike can help create the conditions for a deal. The statement came from national president Lana Payne and the bargaining committee’s chair and vice-chair, James Stewart and Vito Beato, CBC News reported.

The Brampton plant has been idle since 2023, when more than 2,000 workers were laid off. It was supposed to be retooled to build Jeeps, but Unifor says Stellantis backed away from that commitment last year, citing factors including U.S. tariffs, and in August told the union it was seriously considering closing the plant and selling it. On Sept. 11, Stellantis said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian armoured vehicle maker Roshel on a potential sale. “Stellantis believes that Roshel represents a strong path to restoring sustainable operations at Brampton Assembly,” Stellantis Canada chief executive Trevor Longley said at the time, according to CBC News.

Roshel chief executive Roman Shimonov has said laid-off Brampton workers would get first consideration for jobs at the plant, where his company wants to set up a Canadian centre for defence manufacturing and bring in more than 2,000 jobs. Unifor has rejected the closure and sale. Union spokesperson Kathleen O’Keefe said the plan threatens members’ wages, pensions and benefits, and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called it “yet another broken commitment” from Stellantis.

The strike vote lands as Windsor workers face more downtime. Stellantis said Friday that the Windsor Assembly Plant, which builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the Dodge Charger, will be down the weeks of Oct. 19 and Oct. 26 as well as Nov. 2. “Stellantis continues to evaluate and adjust its manufacturing operations in response to evolving market conditions, including consumer demand and the impact of tariffs,” a spokesperson said, according to CBC News. The more than 6,400 employees at the plant had already been laid off for two weeks before returning to work on Monday. “That’s more downtime in our system, something we didn’t want to hear,” said Stewart, who is also president of Unifor Local 444 in Windsor.

Production workers have been told not to report during those weeks unless a supervisor directs them to, and the schedule for skilled trades has not been set, Windsor News Today reported. The first week of the shutdown begins on the day Unifor is due to announce the strike vote results.

The collective agreement expired Sept. 20, and Stellantis has said workers are following the terms of the expired contract for now. In an earlier bargaining update, Unifor said it was not yet in a legal strike position because the two sides remained in conciliation, a process under the Ontario Labour Relations Act that must be completed before either side can strike or lock out. The union said in that update that officials in the federal industry department and the Prime Minister’s Office had told it the government “neither instigated nor endorsed” the proposed sale to Roshel.

Beyond Brampton, Unifor is also seeking firm product plans for Windsor Assembly and the Etobicoke Casting Plant. Longley has said Stellantis considers Canada an important market and has invested more than $8 billion across its Canadian operations since 2022, CBC reported.

Sources: Unifor statement (Oct. 6, 2026); CBC News, strike votes; CBC News, Windsor layoffs; Windsor News Today; CBC News, Roshel memorandum; Unifor Auto Talks bargaining update.