After 32 years at Windsor Assembly, Shawn Switzer is watching the latest round of contract talks with a familiar sense of uncertainty. “I think it’s a waiting game right now,” he told CTV News on Thursday. Switzer is one of roughly 6,400 workers at Windsor Assembly waiting for a deal on pay, benefits and the future of Stellantis’ Canadian plants. Unifor paused formal negotiations Sept. 11 and has warned a strike is possible, but said members won’t be in a legal strike position when the current contract expires Sunday. It’s a familiar feeling of anxiety for Switzer with a few new twists. “It’s always a bad time,” he said. “Plus, what’s going on with the border and all that? I hope they do the right thing.” Much of the dispute between Unifor and Stellantis centres on Brampton’s idled assembly plant, which was supposed to build the new Jeep Compass before that production shifted to the United States. The union wants production restored but the automaker is actively pursuing a sale, having signed a memorandum of understanding with armoured vehicle maker Roshel for the plant. In a letter to Canadian employees Thursday, Stellantis cited market and trade conditions, saying none of the alternatives it examined offered a sustainable business case for continued operations. For Unifor Local 444 president James Stewart, the concern is what broken commitments in Brampton could mean for workers elsewhere. “Brampton is a major issue for our union, but it’s not the only issue,” he said. The union also wants to secure Stellantis’ manufacturing presence in Windsor and Etobicoke and have the company match the economic terms negotiated with Ford, without conditions. “But make no mistake, the loss of Brampton Assembly plant, even if it was the only issue, would still be important,” Stewart said. John Daskalakis, a 26-year Windsor Assembly employee, said his frustration goes back much further than the current talks. “I’ve been worried. It’s been 26 years of concessions here,” he said. Jackson Dufour is approaching his first anniversary at the plant. Along with a previously scheduled two-week shutdown coming up, he is watching the possibility of a strike. “It’s a little scary for us to see – all the new hires,” he said. For now, he and his colleagues are left waiting and watching. “Just one day at a time basically,” Dufour said.
