Stellantis plant workers face uncertainty as company shifts production to U.S.

When workers at the Stellantis assembly plant in Brampton, Ont., picked up their phones around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, they were greeted with a robocall from their employer.

That was when they found out — after nearly two years at home as the plant undergoes a retool — that the work they’d been waiting for wouldn’t be coming back.

Instead, it’s headed south of the border.

On Tuesday, the automaker said it would shift Jeep production slated for the plant to the United States. The news came as part of a US$13-billion investment announced Tuesday by Stellantis to expand U.S. production by 50 per cent over the next four years.

“Our members are even more worried and even with more anxiety and uncertainty right now than they’ve ever had before,” said Vito Beato, president of Unifor Local 1285, which represents the Brampton plant’s workers.

“That was the first time that the company reached out to our members and communicated with them some very disrespectful and disgusting behaviour.”

Stellantis said it would reopen its Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois to expand U.S. Jeep production, creating around 3,300 new jobs there.

Beato said the news came as a surprise because Stellantis had said previously it was committed to producing its Jeep Compass in Brampton.

The Brampton plant, which had about 3,000 employees, has been down for retooling since January 2024 to prepare for both electric and gas Jeep Compass production this year, but halted that work in February this year amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Beato said that left workers in the dark over the plant’s future. He said there was a feeling of concern for members on Wednesday after finding out the company’s change of direction.

“It’s a ton of questions and they don’t deserve this,” he said.

“For over 40 years at this particular assembly plant, we’ve done nothing but provide big, big profits for the company and they don’t deserve this unknown and this uncertainty. They deserve to get back to work and do what they do best and build cars.”

Beato added that workers expect the provincial and federal governments to “step up” and protect the auto industry in the face of U.S. tariffs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said the move was a direct consequence of tariffs and his government would work with Stellantis to create new opportunities in the Brampton area. Carney added that Ottawa expects Stellantis to fulfil its commitment to Brampton workers.

Stellantis said it continues to invest in Canada, including adding a third shift to the Windsor Assembly Plant, and that it is in talks with the government on the future of the Brampton facility.

“If they let the Brampton assembly plant fail, it’ll just snowball to other facilities, the auto industry will be in peril,” said Beato.

“We’ve got to stand up and we can’t let this happen.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2025.