Global carmaker Stellantis says tariffs and consumer demand in North America are driving weeks-long layoffs at the company’s plant in Windsor, Ont.
In a statement Friday, Stellantis Canada announced it will idle the plant for three weeks starting later this month. The more than 6,400 employees at the facility were already laid off for the last two weeks and are set to return to work Monday.
“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 wrote.
“Consistent with those efforts, the Windsor Assembly Plant will be down the weeks of Oct. 19 and 26 as well as Nov. 2.”
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The news of fresh layoffs comes at a time of significant uncertainty for Stellantis workers in Windsor, who build the Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Dodge Charger muscle cars, as well as the carmaker’s employees elsewhere in the country.
Stellantis and Unifor, the workers’ union, sit at a standstill in contract talks, in large part due to an impasse over the future of the company’s assembly plant in Brampton, Ont.
The company has said it wants to sell the plant, citing “market and trade conditions.” Unifor has dubbed the plan “indefensible.”
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On Friday, Stellantis said there has been “[n]o change in contract negotiations,” and that workers are “following the terms of the expired collective agreement for the time being.”
Unifor’s collective agreement with Stellantis expired on Sept. 20.
James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444 — which represents the auto workers in Windsor — shared news of the latest layoffs on social media Friday.
“That’s more downtime in our system, something we didn’t want to hear,” Stewart said in a video posted to Facebook.
Stewart has previously said that in addition to the Brampton plant, securing more product allocations for Windsor and the company’s casting plant in Etobicoke is an important issue in contract talks.
A representative for Stewart said he was unavailable for an interview Friday. But in the video, Stewart said employees in Windsor will get more information about where negotiations stand upon their return to work Monday.
“We’re currently working on a leaflet to update you on some of the things that have been going on in our bargaining, what’s happening now and what to expect in the future,” he said.
“We know you’re looking forward to getting some type of update on the bargaining process.”
