The union representing workers at Stellantis warned the U.S. automaker not to take Canadian employees for granted as Unifor and the company began contract talks Tuesday.
The negotiations mark the final round of Unifor's bargaining with the Detroit Three automakers. The union typically uses pattern bargaining for its auto sector negotiations, setting terms it hopes to replicate with other companies.
Despite ratifying new collective agreements with Ford Motor Co. and General Motors in Canada earlier this summer, Unifor's greatest challenge lies ahead, national president Lana Payne said.
"I would say we have defied a few odds, given the moment, given the uncertainty, given the tariffs and Trump's trade war, given all the massive headwinds against us," she told a news conference.
"But I'm not going to sugar-coat things. We expect this round of negotiations to be our most difficult and challenging yet, possibly ever."
The parties are working toward a Sept. 11 deadline to reach a new deal. The union's key concern, it said, surrounds job security after more than 2,000 workers were laid off from Stellantis' Brampton, Ont., assembly plant, which has been idled since 2023.
Unifor to launch collective bargaining with Stellantis on Tuesday
Last month, the union said it received notice that Stellantis was considering the closure and sale of the plant. The facility had been slated to be retooled for Jeep production, a process that began early in 2024, before the company paused the plan in early 2025.
It later announced it was moving production of the Jeep Compass to the U.S., in what the union called a violation of its current collective agreement, leaving the plant idled indefinitely.
Last month, Payne said the union was informed that Stellantis might close and sell the plant, though the company didn't give the union a formal written notice — which would be required under the current collective agreement.
Unifor says Stellantis considering closing, selling Brampton assembly plant
She reiterated Tuesday that production of the Jeep Compass "should never have left the Brampton plant," calling it the "absolute wrong decision."
"To be blunt, Stellantis has had a lot of work to do and will have a lot to do to repair relations with our members and with Canadians," she said.
"It starts with making things right with our members at Brampton Assembly and that means putting them back to work building vehicles, not closing and not selling the plant."
On Tuesday, Stellantis said labour talks with the union marked "an extremely important process" for its future.
