Thousands of Brampton Stellantis workers remain in limbo while Windsor plant adds 1K employees—local politician voices frustration

Despite previous assurances to Brampton’s Stellantis employees that the company is committed to bringing new plans to the facility, protecting thousands of jobs, no production is currently assigned to the giant assembly line and there is no clear timeline to restart operations.

On December 15, the automaker announced it hired more than a thousand new staff for a third shift in Windsor starting early this year, to meet growing demand for the Dodge Charger and Chrysler minivan family.

Stellantis celebrated the labour expansion as a significant “milestone” and highlighted the $7.9 billion the company has invested in Canada since 2022, which supported the creation of 600 new engineering jobs in the automotive research and development centre.

“Today’s announcement reinforces Canada’s critical role in Stellantis’ global operations,” Trevor Longley, president and CEO of Stellantis Canada, said. “For more than a century, we’ve proudly assembled vehicles here—more than 25 million to date.”

While Stellantis is heralding the achievement as a step toward creating 1,500 jobs at the Windsor Assembly plant, the automaker has not yet announced any plans for the Brampton facility, which has remained idle since early 2024, leaving 3,000 workers tied to the shuttered plant worried about their future.

Stellantis said in mid-December it had transferred 240 Brampton employees to the Windsor facility, where they will work in new roles. The remaining hourly employees will receive 70 percent of their salary and health benefits.

Talks were in place to shift 1,500 Brampton employees to Windsor since October last year, after thousands of staff at the Brampton facility were left stunned when Stellantis informed them—through a robocall—that plans for the next generation Jeep Compass, including an electric model, originally set to be manufactured in Brampton, were suddenly shifted to Illinois, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened automakers to move operations back to America or face government action.

A month later, Vito Beato, the president of Unifor Local 1285—the union representing the workers at the Brampton facility—told The Pointer the suggestion of job transfers to Windsor was nothing more than a distraction, saying it will not do anything to protect thousands of local jobs.

"The company’s offer to transfer workers to Windsor or talk of major plans for Brampton seems like a smokescreen to justify their decision and claim our members are protected," he told The Pointer.

Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285, told The Pointer last year that the transfer of 1,500 workers to Windsor is not a solution the union accepts.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

"However, transferring to Windsor is not a real solution; it's a four-hour commute, requires uprooting families, and is simply not a viable answer for those at the Brampton assembly plant."

Beato said there is only one solution: to honour the contract that Stellantis signed, committing to electric, hybrid, and some traditional Jeep Compass production in Brampton.

Stellantis has received billions of dollars from the federal and provincial governments and some local politicians have questioned how the company can suddenly turn its back on the agreement that was supposed to protect workers in Brampton.

During a December 10 House of Commons Industry Committee meeting, a tense exchange unfolded between Conservative MP Kyle Seeback, who represents Peel as the member for Dufferin-Caledon, and Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance, over a provision in the agreement between Ottawa and Stellantis, which Seeback questioned because it allows the company to reduce its workforce without violating the contract.

Kyle Seeback, the Conservative MP for Dufferin-Caledon, grilled Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance, during a House of Commons Industry Committee meeting over a provision in the government’s agreement with Stellantis.

(House of Commons)

While reading the provisions of section 6.3.1 of the agreement—which states the recipient shall maintain an average of 4,475 FTEs in Canada for the work phase—Seeback questioned if the minister knew how many FTEs Stellantis employed at the time the contract was signed.

"You have to read these two clauses (6.3.1 and 6.3.4 D) together. We were aware of the number of employees that were there, but you have to read both agreements," he said.

Seeback shot back, suggesting the contract allowed Stellantis to lay off 3,000 employees in Brampton.

"We don't need you condescendingly telling me to read things."

"Stellantis had 8,000 employees when you signed this contract, so that means they could fire 3,500 employees and still be in compliance with this agreement."

He continued: "And that's there, sir. The problem is, under this SIF agreement, the combined contributions were $3 billion, and they were still allowed during the work phase to fire up to 3,500 employees, and now they fired 3,000 employees in Brampton; they did exactly what they were allowed to do."

Seeback also asked whether the federal government had notified Unifor prior to signing the contract with Stellantis.

Champagne fired back: "I could not remember seeing you at the table when we negotiated." 

He again advised him to read both clauses in the agreement.

The two offered contrasting interpretations of the content and legal requirements of the agreement.

In 2022, Ottawa approved $529 million for Stellantis through the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) to retool operations at the Brampton and Windsor plants, contingent on keeping the production at both facilities. However, early last month, the federal government served the automaker with a notice of default, saying it had breached the funding agreement by moving the Jeep Compass production from Brampton to the U.S..

This came after the federal government initiated a 30-day formal dispute resolution process in November, to ensure Stellantis abides by the contracts it signed with Ottawa to keep a certain level of production in Canada in exchange for taxpayer-funded assistance.

Apart from what Ottawa has committed, Ontario also announced $513 million in 2022 for both plants under a separate deal; $55 million has already been given to Stellantis, while the rest of the funding was withheld after the province said Stellantis had violated its 2023 contractual obligations with Unifor.

"I am not going to give them a penny because it was tied to making sure Windsor and Brampton keep going, and we haven't given them a penny for Brampton yet," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in Kenora last year, after Stellantis signalled that its future in Brampton is unclear.

The federal and provincial governments have committed upward of $15 billion in production subsidies to the company (roughly one-third from the province).

During the December 4 session of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, Teresa Piruzza, Stellantis Canada’s director of external affairs and public policy, defended the company claiming it has not violated any contractual obligations by shifting the retooling to Illinois. She said the Brampton plant is on operational pause, not closed.

“We are honouring our agreements… . We will continue to work with the government to find a solution for Brampton as well.”

Teresa Piruzza, Stellantis Canada’s director of external affairs and public policy, spoke during the December 4 session of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, ensuring a solution for Brampton will be found.

(House of Commons)

Brampton autoworkers have been rolling cars off the line at the assembly plant in Bramalea for close to 40 years, and their labour has generated billions of dollars for Stellantis; many of them were shocked after the October announcement by the company to shift the Jeep production to the U.S., when they were promised in February last year that the pause would only last for eight weeks. It has now been almost a year.

The effort to transition the Brampton auto assembly from previous models to manufacture the next-generation Jeep Compass has been paused since February 2025.

(Stellantis)

The Netherlands-based car-making conglomerate, which includes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and other global auto brands, announced that it will invest $13 billion to expand production in the United States by 50 percent, with plans to launch five new vehicles and 19 new products over the next four years. The company claims this will create 5,000 new jobs at plants in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

The decision by Stellantis to move production of the next-generation electric Jeep Compass came after the U.S. government imposed stiff tariffs on automobiles and auto parts not protected by the Canada-United States-Mexico Trade Agreement (CUSMA). Trump has warned companies that export vehicles into his country that they will face steeper barriers unless they move manufacturing operations to the U.S..

In response, Unifor launched a rally outside the Brampton Stellantis Assembly plant at 2000 Williams Parkway on October 29, using the slogan “Protect Canadian Jobs” to show solidarity with the Brampton plant workers who have been at home for months.

"For a lot of us in my situation—I've got 28 years in this plant and need 30 to retire—in two years, I could be homeless if there's nothing coming in," John Muirhead, a longtime Brampton Stellantis employee, told The Pointer at the rally.

He said it’s nearly impossible for him to find a new job at the age of 60 and wants Stellantis to be transparent about the future of 3,200 workers off the job at the giant assembly plant.

Beau Bisson, another worker who also took part in the rally, said the effects have been widespread. “The financial impact has been crippling. After many years of living independently, I’m now staying at my mom’s house as a guest, trying to save money and waiting to see what happens.”

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