Unifor Holds Strike Votes for 9,000 Stellantis Workers in Canada

Unifor is moving its Stellantis bargaining fight to a strike authorization vote, setting up a pivotal few days for workers and for the future of the idled Brampton Assembly Plant.

Members will vote Oct. 17 and 18, with results due Oct. 19. A majority mandate would not itself trigger a strike, but it would give Unifor’s executive or bargaining committee the option of using work stoppages at Stellantis operations in Canada, including Windsor and Toronto.

Brampton at centre of dispute

The union says negotiations are stalled at an impasse over unresolved bargaining issues, led by the future of the Brampton plant and an economic pattern it says Stellantis has made conditional on an agreement to close and sell the facility.

“Strike action remains a last resort, but the ability to strike is an important part of collective bargaining and can help create the conditions for an agreement,” Unifor said in a statement.

The latest collective agreement between Unifor and Stellantis expired in September. The union has framed the dispute as one reaching beyond a single plant, pointing to job security and the long-term future of the company’s Canadian operations.

“The unresolved issues with the company extend well beyond the future of the Brampton Assembly Plant,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said. “They relate to the broader job security of all union members and the future of Stellantis operations across Canada.”

Proposed sale raises stakes

Stellantis plans to sell the Brampton Assembly Plant to Roshel, a defence contractor. Unifor has called the proposed move “unacceptable,” saying it would eliminate more than 2,000 jobs.

The union says bargaining hit a breaking point on Sept. 11, when Stellantis advanced its plans for the sale.

For Unifor, the fight is tied to what it sees as the terms of any wider settlement. The union says the company’s proposed economic pattern is being made contingent on closing and selling Brampton, a condition it opposes.

Stellantis has offered a different rationale for its decision, citing changing market and trade conditions. In a letter to employees, Stellantis Canada president and CEO Trevor Longley said those conditions had “directly impacted the original business case” for the Brampton site.

An idled plant, uncertain future

The Brampton plant closed for retooling in 2023. Stellantis later moved Jeep Compass production to the United States after U.S. tariffs on Canadian-made cars.

That sequence has left the plant’s future at the heart of the contract talks. Unifor’s strike vote will test whether members want their bargaining committee to have the leverage of a possible work stoppage as it presses Stellantis for an agreement.

The vote’s outcome will be announced Oct. 19. If workers approve authorization, the union will have a new tool available, but whether it uses that authority will remain a decision for its leadership and bargaining committee.

For now, the central conflict remains unchanged: Stellantis says market and trade conditions have altered its case for Brampton, while Unifor says the sale and closure of the plant cannot be accepted as the price of a new deal.

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