Stellantis announced on Nov. 9 that it was selling its idled Brampton, Ontario, assembly plant to Canadian defense contractor Roshel.
The move was met with fury from auto union Unifor, which accused the federal and provincial governments of failing to protect the country’s auto sector.
“It’s hard to imagine this plant could have been sold without some green light from the federal government,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said during a Monday night press conference.
“Stellantis has betrayed our members with an underhanded deal to sell the plant and walk away from its commitments to our members,” Payne said in a statement. “ Allowing the sale to move forward is a critical failure of the national auto strategy and breaks the federal government’s promise to protect autoworkers in the U.S. trade war.”
The union said that it plans to meet with Stellantis and Canadian government officials this week to probe for additional information about the conditions of sale. “The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to closing conditions, including applicable government and regulatory requirements,” it said.
“If the conditions of the sale are that Roshel must meet and get a federal government contract then I would say that’s a very big condition that has not been met yet,” Payne said at the press conference.
Payne explained that the union is treating this condition as an opening to push back against the sale, with the national president declaring there remain options for preparing Brampton for future automotive production.
“The fight is not over yet,” she said. “We believe we could potentially get to another place but the priority for us right now is our members and figuring out their future.”
Federal industry minister Mélanie Joly, however, was less direct in a post on X. “Stellantis’ decision does not erase the commitments they made to workers in Brampton,” she wrote. “We remain focused on finding solutions for the more than 2,000 affected workers and their families. They deserve answers, respect and, above all, a secure future.”
Vic Fedeli, Ontario minister of economic development, job creation and trade, also called the announcement “deeply disappointing.”
“We expect Roshel to work with Unifor to hire as many displaced Stellantis workers as possible, including by offering good unionized jobs with comparable salaries,” Fideli said in a statement posted on X.
At the press conference, Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285, which represents Brampton workers, called on the city of Brampton to "make good on its promise to rezone our plant strictly for automotive assembly and we need the provincial government to assist with this as well.”
But the Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, expressed his support of the sale. “Roshel is a Brampton success story, and I welcome the opportunity for a local company to bring manufacturing back to the site and strengthen Canadian defense production,” he said in an emailed statement to WardsAuto, noting how plant workers have lived with years of uncertainty. “They deserve a fair resolution from Stellantis and a clear path to good-paying jobs,” he added.
He is calling on Roshel to work with local union leaders to “identify hiring and training opportunities for laid-off Brampton autoworkers.”
Brown is also calling on Stellantis to repay taxpayers for the public funding the automaker received to support vehicle production in Brampton. The public funding amounted to 529 million Canadian dollars (~$374 million at current exchange rates) paid in 2022 to maintain production at the Brampton and Windsor assembly plants through 2036 and maintaining an average of 4,475 workers across the two facilities.
Joly did not mention the refund in her statement, stressing however, her government was "unequivocal in our efforts to defend and grow Canada's auto sector.”
In its statement, Stellantis said the deal to sell the Brampton plant is aligned with its FaSTLAne 2030 strategy to strengthen long-term competitiveness through disciplined management of manufacturing, with 80% capacity utilization across North America by 2030. The automaker did not disclose the purchase price.
While committed to working with Unifor on a fair resolution to the closure, Antonio Filosa, Stellantis CEO, said the deal aided "broader strategic goals, opening new opportunities for Stellantis in the defence industry, and creating a path to return the Brampton facility to productive industrial use."
Roman Shimonov, founder and CEO of Roshel, said his company planned to “create a new Centre of Excellence for advanced manufacturing” at Brampton, which he said “will allow Canadian companies to better serve customers at home and export into allied markets.” Shimonov said the project would bring “much-needed manufacturing space and jobs to the Toronto area,” while boosting Canadian sovereign defence manufacturing capacity.
Unifor had been pushing hard for confirmation of the rumored sale, telling Wards Auto on Nov. 7 it had met with Stellantis about reports that Roshel had bought the plant, but the automaker would not confirm or deny the sale, or say when clarification would be forthcoming.
When asked if the union would strike over the sale given it has secured a strike mandate from its members, Payne told the press conference: “We’re currently not in a strike position and obviously, lots of this to be worked out. Our goal is to reach a resolution and to get to the bargaining table when we can.”
“A strike is always a last resort, and it remains a last resort here,” she added.
