Payne calls Roshel sale ‘nonstarter’ for idled Brampton factory
Unifor president Lana Payne told a press conference in Toronto on Thursday that the union’s goal is to reach a tentative settlement with Stellantis without a strike, but said bargaining has reached an impasse. “However, bargaining remains extremely challenging right now, and we are at an impasse. Therefore, strike action remains a real possibility,” she said. Under Ontario’s labor laws, the union would have to hold a strike-mandate vote among its members before any work stoppage.
Payne said the Brampton factory represents an important moment for Canada, because it will underscore whether business leaders, workers and government officials are willing to save the country’s auto sector.
Stellantis confirmed this week that it is in advanced talks with Roshel about the sale of the Brampton plant. Roshel has said it is willing to make job commitments to affected Stellantis employees if the transaction is completed. Payne rejected the proposed sale as a “nonstarter,” arguing that defense firms “exist by government procurement” and “cannot compare to a commercial enterprise building vehicles, hundreds of thousands of them, into the market.”
The Brampton factory has been idle since 2024, when Stellantis began retooling it to produce the Jeep Compass. That plan was set aside last year after the automaker, under strain from U.S. tariffs on foreign-made cars, said it was transferring Compass production to a plant in Illinois. Automobiles made in Canada face a 25% U.S. tariff, and President Trump has threatened a heavier 50% duty on vehicles and auto parts beginning January 1 unless Washington and Ottawa reach a satisfactory trade deal. Talks between the U.S. and Canada broke off last month, in part because the Trump administration was intent on undermining the domestic auto sector, Prime Minister Mark Carney has said. In a letter to Brampton employees this week, Trevor Longely, chief executive of Stellantis’s Canadian unit, said the business case for Compass production at the facility is no longer valid, citing U.S. trade policy and market conditions. Longely said Stellantis evaluated options to return automotive production to Brampton, but “none provided a sustainable long-term business case that would support continued operations at the facility.”
Payne sent a letter Wednesday to Joly calling on her to block any Stellantis-Roshel transaction and demanding to know what the government would do to preserve auto production at Brampton. As of Thursday’s press conference, Payne said she had not received a response. A spokesman for the industry ministry said late Wednesday that officials are in discussions with Stellantis and Unifor about the plant’s future and are ready to take measures to protect workers and secure manufacturing work at the site. Joly has previously threatened to sue Stellantis to recover taxpayer-backed financing provided for the factory’s retooling.
Stellantis has said the proposed transaction “could support future operations at the site,” though no deal has been finalized.