BRAMPTON, ON, Nov. 9, 2026 /CNW/ — Today, Stellantis officially informed Unifor and publicly announced that it has sold Brampton Assembly Plant to defence contractor Roshel.

“Stellantis has betrayed our members with an underhanded deal to sell the plant and walk away from its commitments to our members,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “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 company proceeded with the sale despite being in violation of the collective agreement and in breach of commitments to the federal government. Unifor’s position is that the closure and sale of the Brampton plant constitutes a continued breach of these commitments.

Prior to today’s announcement, Unifor was in the process of finalizing four-party discussions with Stellantis, the provincial and federal governments, and the union on the company’s future production footprint in Canada.

“This was not an inevitable outcome. A plan to keep the plant as part of Canada’s auto footprint was possible had the company been committed to finding it and governments applied every measure to prevent the sale,” said Payne. “Selling the Brampton Assembly Plant to a defence contractor is a significant step backwards for Canada’s industrial economy. Over and above the thousands of high-paying jobs that will be lost at Stellantis, Canada will also lose thousands more in its auto parts supplier base.”

In February, Brampton City Council unanimously voted to amend zoning bylaws to explicitly designate the Brampton Assembly Plant location for automotive assembly and related automotive manufacturing uses.

The union is urging Mayor Patrick Brown and Premier Doug Ford to protect autoworkers and take all possible actions to enforce this designation.

“Brampton workers are being used as pawns and this whole rotten deal is being spun as a net positive because ‘some jobs are better than no jobs’. Well, that’s simply not true,” said Vito Beato, Unifor Stellantis Master Bargaining Committee Vice-Chairperson and President of Unifor Local 1285, which represents members at Brampton Assembly Plant. “The reality is that thousands of good-paying Canadian auto jobs are being sacrificed permanently in exchange for hundreds of hypothetical jobs that depend on military procurement contracts that haven’t even been awarded yet.”

The sale also comes in the immediate aftermath of a paradigm shift in U.S. Congress that potentially provides a path forward to resolve tariff disputes which threaten the future of Canada’s auto sector.  

“This is a terrible day for all of our members at Stellantis. If the company can tear up our collective agreement and walk away from Brampton then there are no guarantees for the rest of its production in Canada,” said James Stewart, Unifor Master Bargaining Chairperson and President of Local 444.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future. 

SOURCE Unifor