‘It’s a crisis’: Unifor looks to Canadian government for answers about Stellantis’s withdrawal from Brampton

September 20 was the deadline for Stellantis and Unifor to reach a deal on a collective bargaining agreement for thousands of Brampton workers, as the giant automaker is simultaneously in talks to sell its massive facility in the city to a Canadian manufacturer that specializes in military vehicles.

As of September 21, the complicated situation had not resolved, no deal with the union was reached and Brampton’s auto workers were left wondering if their next job might be making armoured trucks for war. 

In the midst of all the uncertainty, the national president of Unifor is now calling on Ottawa to explain how Brampton-based armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel, somehow got in the middle of the union’s contract talks with Stellantis. 

On September 11, Stellantis and Roshel reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) following the collapse of trade talks between Unifor Local 1285 and Stellantis. Local 1285 President Vito Beato informed the members of the impasse, condemning Roshel’s involvement, claiming no third-party should be involved in the discussions on the plant’s future. 

Naresh Raghubeer, co-founder of Roshel, told The Pointer that the company wants a Canadian defence-manufacturing centre of excellence in Brampton, will offer laid-off workers first consideration, and aims to bring more than 2,000 jobs back through the federal Light Utility Vehicles procurement program. 

In a video released by Unifor on September 17, Unifor national president Lana Payne calls on the Canadian government to answer questions about a situation that remains unclear to all the stakeholders, except Stellantis, perhaps, which holds the cards.

Unifor president Lana Payne says Stellantis is “100 percent serious about exiting Brampton,” and that the union needs to know what the federal government knows. Above, Brampton Unifor head Vito Beato addresses his anxious members.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

“Stellantis is 100 percent serious about exiting Brampton,” Payne said. “Currently, that is their only plan. Everyone needs to understand this, especially our governments.”

Payne further said that Ottawa owes answers. She said that the union was not involved in any Stellantis-Roshel talks and wanted to know what the government knows. 

“We expect an immediate response from the government about the actions they intend to take to keep Stellantis in Brampton,” she said. 

The day before, Payne had sent a letter to Industry Minister Melanie Joly asking if the federal government approved the sale. The letter asks if Ottawa considers the sale a resolution to the formal dispute and December notice of default, referring to a deadline ten months ago that Stellantis had failed to meet, despite its contractual commitments related to federal government subsidies, in exchange for the automaker’s continuation of operations in the country. The contractual conditions included its manufacturing footprint in Brampton. 

The failure to meet the December deadline triggered a dispute process and gave the federal government options including recovery of its funding, based on the terms set in the agreement. 

Payne also asked if Roshel’s lobbyists met ministry staff in August about buying the plant, if the government supports the plan, and if federal officials are aware of any Memorandum Of Understanding between the automaker and the defence supplier. 

“We need to know what they know,” Payne said. 

The Pointer sent questions to Brampton MPs, asking what they were doing to keep Stellantis operating in the city. Questions were sent to Liberal MPs Amandeep Sodhi (Brampton Centre), Maninder Sidhu (Brampton East) Sonia Sidhu (Brampton South), Shafqat Ali (Brampton Chinguacousy Park), Ruby Sahota (Brampton North-Caledon) and Amarjeet Gill, Conservative MP for Brampton West.

None of the city’s MPs responded. 

On March 24, Gill raised the Stellantis issue in the House of Commons, highlighting the plight of the 3,000 Brampton workers. In June, he submitted a written question about the federal government’s 2022 funding agreement with Stellantis. Gill asked government officials how they were monitoring Stellantis’s commitment to maintain 4,475 full-time equivalent positions in Canada, and how much money the government has provided Stellantis so far.

By August, it was reported that Stellantis was “seriously considering” selling its Brampton plant as U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his tariff war, demanding that automakers shift jobs south of the border. Stellantis had already buckled under the pressure, announcing previously that the next generation Jeep Compass production that had been planned at the Brampton assembly, would instead be moved to a plant in Illinois.

Payne told reporters late in the summer that Stellantis informed the Union of its intentions to pursue selling the Brampton plant to a suitable company. Unifor officials said they were not formally issued a formal written notice of closure. 

At the time, Beato said Trevor Longley, president of Stellantis Canada, had told him that if the plant were to be closed, “it would have closed already.” 

On Monday, September 21, government officials provided a response to MP Gill, stating the company’s commitment to employ the required number of workers in Canada continues to be monitored.

It also detailed the amount of funding Ottawa has provided to Stellantis under the agreement, not including this year: 

• For the fiscal year 2022 - 2023 - $18,629,124
• For the fiscal year 2023-2024 - $85,936,055
• For the fiscal year 2024-2025 - $117,793,285

Industry Minister Joly said on September 16 the government wants a new model built at the plant, and that it will apply “maximum pressure” to get one, and that if Stellantis does not deliver, the government will get its money back. 

Unifor wants to keep commercial automobile production alive in Brampton.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer) 

Payne rejected any notion that repayment of the money received from Ottawa would serve as a resolution.

“Payback of funds from a broken contract is not the answer,” she said. “Not unless it keeps the Brampton plant open for the workers and the suppliers who depend on it.”

She also stressed that selling the plant amid an ongoing trade war and in the middle of collective bargaining would be “indefensible.”

“This would make Brampton the first auto plant to fall in this trade war,” she said. “And when plants close, they rarely, if ever, come back.”

At the beginning of the contract negotiations Payne called the potential sale a “gut punch” and said she suspected the unnamed buyer would not be an automaker, which would make it hard to keep the workforce unionized. Roshel has no unionized workforce. 

Thousands of Brampton Stellantis workers learned only via a robocall in October 2025 that production of the next-generation Jeep Compass would be moved to Illinois from Brampton. This announcement came prior to Stellantis publicly announcing a $13-billion U.S. investment to boost American production. 

At the time, Beato described the communication about the production shift as “disrespectful and disgusting,” not the way members deserved to be treated.  

The tentative deadline for a new deal between Unifor’s Brampton members and Stellantis was September 11. Much like the collapse of trade talks between Washington and Ottawa, there is no deal on the horizon. 

Payne said although the passing of the deadline did not trigger a strike, “strike action remains a real possibility.”

Payne’s message to Stellantis is simple: “Don’t close, don’t sell.”

It appears the automaker might not be listening.

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