Stellantis signs Brampton sale MOU with Roshel as Unifor talks stall

TORONTO — Stellantis has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian armoured-vehicle maker Roshel on a potential sale of its idled Brampton, Ont., assembly plant — and Unifor has paused contract talks over the facility’s future.

Trevor Longley, chairman, president and CEO of Stellantis Canada, said the company weighed multiple options for the plant, idle since 2023. “Stellantis believes that 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,” he said. Roshel has said it wants a defence manufacturing centre in Brampton and could give first consideration to laid-off Unifor workers as early as 2026.

Unifor paused bargaining after a Sept. 11 deadline, saying the proposed closure and sale “hindered the bargaining process” and threaten wages, pensions and benefits for Local 1285. More than 2,000 workers were laid off when Brampton halted operations; Jeep retooling started in 2024, paused in 2025, and Compass production was shifted to the U.S. The union also wants firm plans for Windsor Assembly and Etobicoke Casting, and says there will be no settlement without a suitable Brampton resolution. The collective agreement expires Sept. 20 at 11:59 p.m.

Tariffs already shoved Jeep plans south; turning an auto assembly site into defence manufacturing may keep buildings busy but remakes Ontario’s industrial base — and the wage-and-pension inflation floor that came with union auto jobs.