The Windsor Assembly Plant will be back up and running next week. Unifor says all three shifts will be in operation for the foreseeable future following weeks of production shutdown. According to Unifor, the members have only worked two out of the last nine weeks. Members have been working without a contract since September. This comes after Stellantis confirmed earlier this week that they were selling the idled Brampton Assembly Plant to Canadian armoured vehicle manufacturer Roshel, ending plans to retool the facility for production of the next-generation Jeep Compass. Mike Stevenson, Local 444’s 1st Vice-President, says the downtime has brought a lot of anxiety to the city. “You’ve got to remember there’s 6,000 families, plus all the feeders and all the people in the community that are tied to Windsor Assembly, that have been off work too. And they don’t know if they’re going to back for good, or how long, or how this contract is going to end or when it’s going to get settled for that matter.” He says all three shifts will be back. “As of now, it is foreseeable that they’re back to work, but everything can change in this business, as you can see the layoffs got extended a couple of times. So, there’s always that out there, but for all intents and purposes they’re back to work Monday.” Stevenson says members need to trust their union and the process. “We are 100 per cent acting on their behalf to bring them home a collective agreement that they can be proud of, and we’ll just continue working on their behalf to get a good deal for the people in Windsor.” Unifor represents about 6,400 workers at the plant, which assembles the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Voyager, Grand Caravan and Dodge Charger.
