Update on Unifor-Stellantis Negotiations

Unifor

|September 24, 2026

Unifor members at Stellantis,

Contract talks between our union and Stellantis remain at an impasse.

The company’s position remains unchanged on closing and selling the Brampton Assembly Plant to a third-party defence contractor, Roshel. This position has been restated several times, including directly by Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa. Stellantis continues to tell us that finalizing details of the pattern settlement for our members in Windsor, Etobicoke, Mississauga, and Red Deer is conditional on a Brampton closure agreement, a condition that is unacceptable to our union.

The company’s unwillingness to move from its position on Brampton raises major concerns for our union. This prompted our much-publicized letter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly on September 16. In that letter, we restated our opposition to the closure and sale and requested answers to specific questions about the government’s involvement in discussions between Stellantis and Roshel. The Minister’s office promptly acknowledged receipt of our letter. Officials from both the Ministry of Industry and the Prime Minister’s Office told us the federal government neither instigated nor endorsed Stellantis’ proposed sale of the Brampton Assembly Plant to Roshel. Since the initial decision to move the Jeep Compass program to the U.S. was considered a breach by the federal government, we have every reason to believe this latest move by Stellantis to close and sell the plant is as well.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue engaging with government officials, demanding they reject Stellantis’ proposed closure and sale of Brampton Assembly to Roshel and defend auto assembly in Canada. We remain concerned with the negative spillover effects a permanent Brampton closure will have on other automotive assembly plants within the Stellantis chain, and elsewhere in the supply base. We will continue pressing the company to live up to its commitment to our members, consider ways to prevent the closure and sale, and position the plant for future automotive assembly work.

As was communicated through our last membership update on September 17, while the collective agreement expired on September 20, Unifor is not currently in a legal strike position. Unifor and Stellantis remain in conciliation, a process mandated under the Ontario Labour Relations Act which must be completed before either party can be in a legal strike or lockout position.

Unifor continues to assess all options related to the ongoing negotiations, including the timing for setting a legal strike deadline, if that becomes necessary. In the meantime, the terms and conditions of our current agreement remain in effect.

A strike is always a last resort option for our union and should only be acted upon when it is strategically advantageous to do so for our members. The next step for members in this process is participation in strike votes. If Unifor moves to that stage, your local union will notify you of the date, time and location for strike vote meetings. At this time, no strike votes have been scheduled.

The union continues to work towards overcoming the impasse in negotiations and reach a tentative settlement. The impasse has limited the activity between members of our Master Bargaining Committee and company counterparts. With Master Committee sub-tables having neared completion, it was decided that many committee members should return to their workplaces, instead of staying at the hotel in Toronto. However, members of the Unifor and Stellantis Economic Review Committee have remained at the hotel. Although no formal talks are scheduled, the lines of communication between the parties remain open. The goal is to resume talks in the near future.

These are very challenging times for all of us. The U.S.-led trade war has upended the entire North American auto industry, leaving workers feeling anxious and uncertain about the future. Now more than ever we need to stick together and support each other.

Watch the video update.

On behalf of the entire Master Bargaining Committee, we thank you for your solidarity, your support and your patience. We continue to respond to member emails and questions, which you can send directly to [email protected]

Please stay tuned for further updates, and please visit autotalks.ca for more information.

In solidarity,

Lana Payne
National President

James Stewart
Chair, Unifor-Stellantis Master Bargaining Committee

Vito Beato
Vice-Chair, Unifor-Stellantis Master Bargaining Committee

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Thank you!