Stellantis weighs selling idled plant in Brampton, Ont., union says

Stellantis’s assembly plant in Brampton, Ont., that employs approximately 2,800 people, has been idled for years.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Automaker Stellantis N.V. STLA-N is strongly considering selling and closing its assembly plant in Brampton, Ont., according to the union representing thousands of workers at the plant.

Unifor national president Lana Payne told members of the media at a press conference in downtown Toronto on Friday that the multinational automaker informed the union this week about its plans to potentially sell the plant. She called it a “lose-lose scenario” for workers and the auto manufacturers.

“I’m relaying this information publicly because it is very important to do so, and I want to make sure there is no misunderstanding. None of this is acceptable to our members,” she said.

The commitment Stellantis made in 2023 to keep workers employed in Brampton is now broken, she said.

Ms. Payne made the announcement at the Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto, where negotiations for a new collective agreement are taking place between the union and General Motors.

The union had said, at the start of talks on Monday, that its focus would be securing a commitment from GM that they would reopen shuttered production facilities in Ontario.

Unifor’s collective agreement with Stellantis is set to expire in September. Unifor Local 1285 president Vito Beato told members in July that Unifor reps had already met with Stellantis to make their position clear – that there will be no new deal with the company unless the Brampton assembly plant reopens. Mr. Beato represents 8,000 workers including the approximately 2,800 auto workers in Brampton.

Last October, Stellantis announced that it would move production of its Jeep Compass to Illinois, leaving the future of Stellantis auto workers uncertain. The company had earlier announced it was pausing production in February, 2025, as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Ottawa served Stellantis with a notice of default in December of last year, with Industry Minister Mélanie Joly saying at the time that federal government funding to Stellantis came with a commitment from the company that it would create employment.

In 2022, Ottawa gave Stellantis a $529-million grant to retool operations at its Brampton and Windsor plants, contingent upon keeping production at both facilities.