Stellantis and Unifor enter negotiations on Brampton plant’s future as contract deadline looms and talk of closing the facility hangs like a black cloud

Since announcing news on August 14 of the Brampton Stellantis plant’s likely closure, both Unifor Local 1285 and the giant automaker based in the Netherlands have been silent about the company’s future in the city. On September 1, both sides began negotiations before the current contract for approximately 2,300 workers still technically employed at the shuttered facility expires on the 20th of this month. 

In a press release Tuesday, Trevor Longley, President of Stellantis North America said, "Today marks the beginning of collective bargaining with Unifor, and we approach these discussions with respect for the process, appreciation for our represented employees, and a commitment to bargaining in good faith.” 

Brampton's giant Stellantis (Chrysler) plant on Williams Parkway has been closed since February of last year amid tariff uncertainty that forced a shift of production to the U.S.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

As an all-out trade war between Canada and the U.S. looms due to a breakdown in negotiations between Ottawa and Washington over the future of what is supposed to be free trade between the two nations, the automaker’s stated goal is to “navigate significant economic, trade and competitive pressures,” and to “reach an agreement that recognizes the contributions of [our] employees while helping ensure [our] Canadian operations remain competitive.”

Unifor national president Lana Payne has called the potential sale of the Brampton plant a “gut punch” to Canada’s auto sector, and said she suspects the unnamed buyer isn’t another automaker—a scenario she warned could make it harder to keep the plant’s unionized workforce intact. 

Unifor national president Lana Payne said the potential sale of the Brampton Stellantis plant would devastate Canada’s auto sector.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

The Pointer previously reported that Stellantis is considering permanently closing and selling its Brampton Assembly Plant, threatening the livelihood of more than 2,200 laid-off employees, who have been off the job since early last year. Stellantis has now told the Union it is “seriously considering” a potential sale of the facility to another company, but it’s not known which industry the potential buyer operates in. 

No formal closure notice, buyer, or sale agreement has been announced. 

Despite the ominous signals, Stellantis says it is preparing for collective bargaining and remains focused on finding a “sustainable manufacturing solution” for Brampton. 

The plant has been idle for nearly three years following the end of Chrysler and Dodge production. Stellantis had originally committed $1.3 billion to retool the facility for the next-generation Jeep Compass production, including hybrid and electric models. That project was paused in February 2025 amid uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs and was later effectively abandoned when Stellantis announced a $13-billion U.S. investment and moved the planned Compass production to Illinois. 

At an earlier meeting in February, Longley told Local 1285 president Vito Beato that if the company was going to close Brampton, “we would have closed it already.”

Unifor has highlighted the broader impact of a permanent closure which would threaten not only plant workers but also thousands of jobs in Brampton’s supplier network, while the ripple effects would be felt across almost every industry in the local economy. The union also pointed to government financial support for the retooling project and said that Stellantis had obligations to maintain its Canadian manufacturing footprint. 

Unifor and its Local 1285 President Vito Beato have warned that the closure of the Brampton plant will hollow out a big chunk of the local economy.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

Unifor's collective agreement covering Stellantis facilities in Brampton, Windsor and Etobicoke expires September 20, and the union says it will make protecting Brampton jobs a central issue in the negotiations, seeking out support from federal, provincial and municipal governments. 

That support is uncertain. Federal trade minister Dominic LeBlanc said last week that Canada and the U.S. remain far from a deal that could ease the 25 percent U.S. tariff on foreign-built vehicles, a rate U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to raise to 50 percent in January. 

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker BYD has reportedly explored taking over the idled Stellantis Brampton Assembly, potentially bringing new manufacturing jobs to the area. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown claims BYD approached him about 6 months ago to discuss producing buses at the facility. 

He said City Hall has also fielded interest from Leapmotor, another Chinese automaker, and two Canadian defence firms eyeing the site for armoured-vehicle and drone production, one of which says it could hire 1,000 of the laid-off workers.

Meanwhile, the fate of the thousands currently off work and hoping high-paying auto-sector jobs will remain in Brampton, is in the hands of negotiators on four sides: Unifor, Stellantis, Ottawa and Washington. 
 

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