Stellantis workers vote on Unifor strike mandate

Stellantis workers in Canada began voting Oct. 17 on whether to give Unifor a strike mandate, with results due Monday, Oct. 19, as contract talks remain stalled over the future of the Brampton, Ont., assembly plant, the Canadian Press reported.

Updated Oct. 18, 2026. This story is developing and the vote result has not been announced.

The two-day vote covers members of Unifor, which represents more than 9,000 Stellantis workers in Canada, according to CTV News. Unifor has said a strike would be a last resort and that it still hopes to reach a negotiated deal, the Canadian Press reported.

A yes vote would not start a walkout. It would give the union’s bargaining committee the authority to call members to picket lines if talks fail. James Stewart, president of Unifor Local 444, told CTV News the vote shows members are “determined to get a resolve,” and he said a fair deal is still achievable.

Stellantis said it “remains committed to bargaining in good faith” and is ready to keep negotiating toward an agreement, according to CP24.

Bargaining opened in Toronto on Sept. 1, CP24 reported. Talks stalled on Sept. 11 after 10 days of negotiations, and the collective agreement expired on Sept. 20.

The central dispute is job security. Stellantis has announced plans to sell the idled Brampton Assembly Plant to Roshel, a Canadian armoured vehicle maker, the Canadian Press reported. Stellantis said weaker market and trade conditions have undercut the business case for keeping the plant, but that the sale could support future jobs at the site.

Unifor sees it differently. The union says Stellantis must honour earlier commitments to invest in Jeep production at Brampton, and it wants guarantees for the Windsor Assembly Plant, including its third shift, CP24 reported. Unifor Local 444 represents more than 6,400 workers at the Windsor plant, which builds the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Voyager, Grand Caravan and Dodge Charger.

Brampton has been without production since 2023, when the plant halted operations and more than 2,000 workers were laid off, according to the Canadian Press. Stellantis later moved Jeep Compass production from Brampton to Illinois.

The sale plan did not come out of nowhere. As Canada News Media reported before talks began, the existing agreement requires at least one year’s notice before a plant closure or sale, and Stellantis had not issued formal notice at that point. Our earlier look at the contract talks also noted that Stellantis had said it was “seriously evaluating” selling or closing Brampton, and that about 2,200 Local 1285 members were on layoff.

The Roshel sale is also a sharp turn from the company’s spring proposal to assemble Chinese-built Leapmotor electric vehicles at Brampton from imported kits. Unifor and both levels of government rejected that idea, saying it would employ only 200 to 300 workers, as we reported in April. Unifor had also raised concerns about the company’s plans for the plant at that time.

Neither side has said publicly how many jobs a Roshel-owned Brampton site could offer, and none of the reports reviewed gave a figure. Stellantis has not said which products, if any, would be built in Windsor beyond the current lineup. Those are the questions workers will be weighing as they vote.

The talks also carry weight beyond the two cities. Windsor and Brampton are among the best-known auto communities in the country, and the outcome will show how much leverage Unifor has when an automaker is weighing a sale of an idled plant against new commitments.

Unifor is expected to announce the vote results Monday. Even with a strong mandate, a strike is not automatic, and the two sides can keep bargaining.

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Sources: via Global News (The Canadian Press), CP24 and CTV News Windsor.