For thousands of Canadian autoworkers, the possibility of a strike is becoming increasingly real. But in Brampton, the uncertainty runs deeper than the next collective agreement.
More than 2,200 employees connected to Stellantis’s Brampton Assembly Plant have been on layoff since production stopped in December 2023. Nearly three years later, the factory remains idle, and the company is considering selling it to a defence manufacturer.
On Saturday, October 17, 2026, Stellantis workers began voting on whether to authorize potential strike action after negotiations with Unifor stalled. The two-day vote comes amid disagreements over job security, the future of Canadian manufacturing and the automaker’s commitments to its workers.
With results expected Monday, October 19, the dispute could become a defining test for Canada’s automotive industry.
Thousands of Stellantis Workers Begin Voting as Negotiations Remain Deadlocked
Stellantis employees represented by Unifor are voting on October 17 and 18 to determine whether their union’s bargaining committee should receive authorization to call a strike if negotiations remain unsuccessful. The union represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers across Canada, including employees connected to the Brampton Assembly Plant, Windsor Assembly Plant and several component-manufacturing facilities. The results are scheduled to be announced Monday, October 19. A successful vote would strengthen the union’s bargaining position, but it would not automatically mean employees are walking off the job.
The immediate focus is on negotiations that began September 1 and reached an impasse after 10 days of discussions. Unifor had hoped to reach a tentative agreement by September 11, following successful settlements with Ford and General Motors. Instead, disagreements over Brampton’s future brought the process to a standstill. In Windsor, Unifor Local 444 scheduled an in-person meeting and vote at the Colosseum at Caesars Windsor on Saturday morning. Union president James Stewart has urged members to support authorization, arguing that a strong mandate is necessary to secure an acceptable agreement. Unifor continues to describe an actual strike as a last resort.
More Than 2,200 Brampton Workers Have Been Waiting Since 2023
For employees at Brampton Assembly, the current dispute is the culmination of years of uncertainty. According to Unifor, more than 2,200 members of Local 1285 have been on layoff since Stellantis stopped production in December 2023. The shutdown was originally supposed to allow the factory to be modernized for a new generation of vehicles. Workers who had spent years assembling Chrysler and Dodge products expected a temporary interruption before returning to a retooled facility with a new production mandate.
The plant had previously manufactured vehicles including the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. The final Chrysler 300C rolled off its assembly line on December 8, 2023, bringing that production era to an end. What was intended to be a transition has instead become a prolonged period without regular automotive assembly. Workers have had to make financial and career decisions without knowing when their jobs might return. Some have spent nearly three years away from the factory, while others have transferred or considered alternative employment. The difference between being temporarily laid off and losing a permanent position matters enormously when a family’s financial future depends on the promised reopening of a major employer.
The Promised Jeep Compass Production Was Moved to Illinois
The original plan for Brampton centred on producing a new generation of the Jeep Compass, including electrified versions. Stellantis had committed to retooling the facility, and Unifor says that product commitment formed part of the collective agreement workers ratified in 2023. Retooling began in 2024, giving employees an expectation that the factory would eventually resume vehicle assembly with a modernized production line. However, the company paused the work in February 2025, raising questions about the project’s future.
Those concerns became more serious in October 2025, when Stellantis announced a US$13 billion American investment program that included bringing Jeep Cherokee and Compass production to Belvidere, Illinois. The company committed more than US$600 million to reopening the Illinois facility, with production initially expected in 2027 and approximately 3,300 jobs anticipated. For Brampton workers, the announcement was particularly painful because a vehicle previously assigned to their plant was now part of a major U.S. expansion. Unifor argues the decision violated the collective agreement and commitments made to Canadian governments. Stellantis, meanwhile, has maintained that changing trade conditions and the industry’s competitive environment have undermined the business case for its original Canadian plans.
A Proposed Sale to Roshel Could Replace Vehicle Assembly With Defence Manufacturing
The latest dispute intensified in August 2026, when Stellantis informed Unifor that it was seriously considering closing and selling Brampton Assembly. On September 11, the automaker confirmed it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel, a Canadian manufacturer specializing in armoured vehicles. Stellantis said it had explored several alternatives and believed Roshel offered a credible opportunity to restart sustainable industrial operations at the site. The company has argued that a sale could preserve manufacturing activity rather than leave the factory indefinitely idle.
Roshel has outlined plans to establish a Canadian Centre of Excellence for Defence Manufacturing at the facility. Chief executive Roman Shimonov said the project could create more than 2,000 jobs and that laid-off Unifor workers would receive first consideration for employment opportunities. Those proposals present a potentially significant alternative, but important details remain unresolved. The projected jobs have not been established as equivalent to the former Stellantis positions in wages, pensions, benefits or union representation. Nor has a completed sale been confirmed. Unifor opposes losing another Canadian automotive assembly plant and maintains that potential defence manufacturing employment should not be treated as a direct replacement for the production commitments Stellantis previously made.
The Fight Over Brampton Is Holding Up a Broader Labour Agreement
The Brampton dispute has become central to negotiations affecting Stellantis employees across the country. Unifor says the automaker has offered conditional acceptance of the core economic settlement established through its agreements with Ford and General Motors. According to the union, Stellantis wants an agreement on closing and selling Brampton Assembly before finalizing that broader settlement. Unifor has rejected the condition, arguing that workers at one facility should not have their manufacturing future traded away in exchange for wage and benefit improvements elsewhere.
The disagreement matters because the 2026 bargaining round had already produced important gains at other Detroit Three automakers. Ford employees ratified a three-year agreement in July that included wage increases of 3% annually, pension and benefit improvements, and stronger income-security provisions. General Motors workers ratified their agreement in August, including investment commitments for Canadian operations. Stellantis workers are seeking comparable economic protections alongside meaningful guarantees about future production. For employees in Windsor, Etobicoke, Mississauga and Red Deer, the outcome could influence wages, retirement security and continued employment. Unifor’s position is that a settlement must protect both immediate compensation and the long-term industrial capacity needed to sustain those jobs.
Income Protection Has Helped Brampton Families, but Its Future Is Uncertain
Although Brampton employees have not been building vehicles since 2023, their financial situation differs from that of workers facing an ordinary permanent layoff. Unifor negotiated income-security arrangements that have provided continued financial support during the prolonged shutdown. On September 16, the union confirmed that Stellantis had agreed to extend existing protections covering laid-off Local 1285 members. The extension provides some stability while the parties continue attempting to negotiate a new agreement.
However, those protections are not indefinite. The agreement specifies that the extension remains in place until the parties reach a legal strike or lockout position, or until a renewed collective agreement takes effect, whichever occurs first. The exact benefits individual employees receive depend on the applicable contractual provisions and their circumstances. That distinction is especially important as strike authorization voting begins. An authorization vote does not immediately terminate these arrangements, but further developments in the bargaining process could affect their duration. For families managing mortgages, groceries, car payments and other expenses, temporary income support provides breathing room without resolving the underlying problem. The more fundamental concern is whether employees will eventually return to stable manufacturing work with long-term benefits and retirement security.
Windsor Workers Face Their Own Shutdown as Strike Results Approach
Brampton is not the only Stellantis operation confronting uncertainty. The company’s Windsor Assembly Plant is scheduled to shut down production for three additional weeks beginning October 19. The planned interruptions cover the weeks of October 19, October 26 and November 2. The company has cited changing market conditions, consumer demand and tariffs as factors behind the adjustments. The facility produces vehicles including Chrysler minivans and the Dodge Charger, making it an important part of Stellantis’s North American production network.
The timing is particularly sensitive because the shutdown begins during the same week that Unifor plans to announce the strike-vote results. These are separate developments: Windsor’s scheduled production interruption is not itself a strike and does not establish that workers will take labour action. Nevertheless, the combination creates additional uncertainty for employees and suppliers. Production stoppages can disrupt household income planning and affect businesses that provide components, transportation and other services to the plant. Unifor has also raised concerns about the company’s future production commitments in Windsor and at the Etobicoke Casting Plant. The union argues that Brampton’s situation could establish a troubling precedent if an automaker is allowed to abandon previously promised Canadian vehicle production without an acceptable resolution for affected workers.
Ottawa Faces Pressure to Enforce Stellantis’s Manufacturing Commitments
The dispute has also become a test of government accountability. Stellantis previously entered into funding agreements intended to support Canadian automotive investment and employment. Federal parliamentary briefing materials confirm that Ottawa issued the company a notice of default on December 4, 2025, after the decision to move promised Jeep production to the United States. The materials show that $222.4 million had been disbursed by March 31, 2025, under a $529 million federal contribution agreement covering Brampton and Windsor facilities. The government subsequently put further payments under that agreement on hold during its dispute-resolution process.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has said Ottawa wants Stellantis to assign another vehicle model to Brampton and has warned that public money could be recovered if the company fails to fulfil its obligations. The government disputes the company’s withdrawal from the original production commitment, although the issuing of a default notice should not be confused with a final court judgment. Unifor has also questioned Ottawa’s involvement in discussions surrounding the potential Roshel sale. In a September update, the union said federal officials had informed it that the government neither initiated nor endorsed the proposed transaction. For workers, the issue is whether political pressure and contractual enforcement can secure real manufacturing activity, rather than simply produce financial compensation after production has disappeared.
Brampton’s City Council Is Trying to Protect the Factory’s Automotive Future
Municipal officials have also taken steps to defend Brampton’s manufacturing identity. On February 25, 2026, Brampton City Council unanimously approved a motion directing the city to pursue planning protections for the Stellantis site at 2000 Williams Parkway. The motion calls for changes to the Official Plan, zoning by-laws and related policies that would explicitly designate the property for automotive assembly and related automotive manufacturing. Mayor Patrick Brown and councillors presented the initiative as a way to preserve a strategically important industrial facility rather than allow its long-term manufacturing purpose to disappear.
The local effort highlights the economic importance of vehicle assembly beyond the employees working directly on production lines. Auto factories support suppliers, skilled trades, transportation companies and service businesses throughout their surrounding communities. Federal figures indicate that Canada’s automotive sector supports more than 500,000 jobs across its broader economic footprint, including approximately 125,000 direct manufacturing positions. The industry also depends heavily on the United States, which receives more than 90% of Canadian-built vehicles. Although Brampton’s planning initiative signals strong political opposition to losing automotive capacity, a council motion does not itself guarantee a new product mandate or employment agreement. The future of the factory ultimately depends on manufacturing investment, commercial demand and the outcome of negotiations involving Stellantis, workers and governments.
U.S. Tariffs Make the Fight About More Than One Assembly Plant
The pressure on Canadian manufacturing has intensified since the United States imposed new automotive tariffs in April 2025. Canadian-built vehicles have faced a 25% U.S. tariff, with the duty applied to non-U.S. content in vehicles that qualify under the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement. Because much of Canada’s automotive production is destined for American customers, the measures can influence manufacturers’ decisions about future investment. Stellantis’s US$13 billion expansion south of the border has therefore become particularly controversial in Canada, especially because it includes vehicle programs that had previously been promised to Brampton.
Recent company results also illustrate the challenges facing North American operations. On October 13, Stellantis reported a 12% decline in third-quarter North American vehicle shipments, although it attributed much of that reduction to planned summer production downtime affecting Jeep models. That company-wide figure does not establish specific job losses at Canadian plants. Still, the trade environment has made production commitments increasingly important. As workers vote on strike authorization, the immediate priority is a fair collective agreement. The larger question is whether Stellantis will maintain meaningful vehicle assembly in Canada, preserve its skilled workforce and establish a credible future for Brampton. Monday’s results will reveal how strongly employees support possible labour action, but the longer-lasting measure of success will be whether the factory receives a viable future and its workers regain dependable jobs.
