Stellantis-Unifor Talks Break Down as Automaker Signs Deal to Sell Idled Brampton Plant

Contract talks between Unifor and Stellantis collapsed Friday, September 11, 2026, after 10 days of bargaining in Toronto, with the union citing an unresolved fight over the fate of the automaker's Brampton, Ontario assembly plant.

The Unifor Master Bargaining Committee had set September 11 as its target for a tentative deal. Instead, it paused negotiations entirely. Unifor said in a statement that it is "actively considering next steps" and will release more details in the coming days.

The same day, Stellantis confirmed it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Roshel, a Canadian maker of armoured vehicles, on a potential sale of the Brampton plant. The facility has sat idle since 2023, when more than 2,000 workers were laid off.

Trevor Longley, chairman, president and CEO of Stellantis Canada, said in an emailed statement that the company "considered multiple options" for Brampton and believes Roshel "represents a strong path to restoring sustainable operations at Brampton Assembly, preserving the site's strategic role in Canada's advanced manufacturing sector and helping to avoid a prolonged period of inactivity."

Unifor spokesperson Kathleen O'Keefe pushed back hard. "The persistence of the company's proposal to close and sell the Brampton plant has hindered the bargaining process," she said, according to statements carried by CityNews Toronto and CBC. O'Keefe said the closure and sale threaten "the wages, pensions and other benefits" of union members and would deal "a devastating blow to Canada's industrial sector."

Unifor represents more than 9,000 Stellantis employees in Canada, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The union has said there will be no tentative settlement without a resolution for Local 1285 members at Brampton, and it says Stellantis has offered only a conditional economic pattern agreement tied to the plant's closure.

A Broken Promise, Union Says

Unifor traces the standoff back further than this week. The union says that in October 2025, Stellantis reneged on a prior commitment to invest in Jeep production at Brampton, a reversal the union attributes "in part as a response to tariffs." At the time, Unifor says, Stellantis reassured both union members and government officials it still intended to conditionally invest in new vehicle programs for the plant.

That reassurance didn't hold. In August 2026, Stellantis told Unifor it was seriously weighing closure and sale of Brampton to a third party, a position the union says it opposed then and has opposed throughout bargaining. The company has also left the future of its Windsor Assembly Plant and Etobicoke Casting Plant unconfirmed, according to Unifor's statement.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called the plant sale news "disappointing for the workers and families" and "another broken commitment from the automaker," according to The Canadian Press. "If Stellantis is truly cutting and running from Brampton, it is a betrayal of our workers, their families, and every Canadian taxpayer," Brown said, adding that Stellantis has accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in public money tied to promises for the plant's future. Brown is calling on the federal government to hold the company accountable and wants details on how many jobs the Roshel deal would actually preserve.

The Trade Backdrop

Stellantis operates against a badly deteriorated U.S.-Canada trade relationship. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News that trade talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed, resulting in new 50% U.S. tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian imports. Twenty-five states have separately sued to block related labor tariffs, and President Donald Trump waived duties on 300,000 tons of imported ground beef for 90 days, according to Fox News. Vice President JD Vance said Canada has been friendlier to China than to the United States on trade, calling it "insanity."

Canadian minister Dominic LeBlanc has said unofficial talks with the U.S. are still continuing despite the breakdown in official negotiations, per Epoch Times reporting. The earlier October 2025 investment reversal has been explicitly linked to tariffs, and that link comes from Unifor's own account, not from Stellantis.

The Brampton plant has produced nothing since 2023. Roshel's sale proposal frames the deal as preservation of the site's manufacturing role, rather than permanent closure.

Roshel itself has not commented. Morningstar reported that a Stellantis spokeswoman confirmed negotiations with Roshel but declined further comment, citing the ongoing Unifor talks.

What Happens Next

The current collective agreement between Stellantis and Unifor expires September 20, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. With formal bargaining paused and no resolution on Brampton, Unifor has not said whether it will move toward a strike authorization vote before that deadline. Also unresolved: how many jobs, if any, the Roshel deal would create at Brampton, and whether the federal government will act on Mayor Brown's call to claw back the subsidies Stellantis received before it walked away from its Jeep production commitment.