By CRM Staff
Toronto, Ontario — April 2, 2019 — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has announced it will be cutting 1,500 jobs from its Windsor, Ont. plant.
According to an email statement, the manufacturer plans to eliminate the third shift at its assembly plant beginning September 30.
Slow minivan sales have plagued the factory which produces Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Caravan minivans.
“We will fight tooth and nail to protect the jobs of the auto workers in Windsor,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement. “My message to Fiat Chrysler is this: do not make this decision based on the anti-business policies of the former government over the past 15 years.”
FCA’s indefinite layoffs come less than five months after the announcement of 2019 closure of General Motor’s Oshawa plant. In total more than 3,000 employees will be out of work due to the manufacturer cutbacks.
On Tuesday Unifor stated that they are pushing for a meeting with top FCA executives in Michigan in an attempt to save the 1,500 jobs.
Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Local 444, stated that he wants to meet with the manufacturer’s CEO Michael Manley and COO Mark Stewart, with the hope of making a case to ramp up production.
“It’s a flexible facility. Is there tooling that needs to be changed? Absolutely, there needs to be tooling,” said Cassidy. “But they didn’t spend $2 billion in that facility to not look at its longevity.”
LouAnn Gosselin, head of communications for FCA Canada, told CBC News that the company plans on stopping the production of the Caravan. She also wouldn’t confirm if a meeting between Unifor and some executives is in the works or if officials are considering adding a new product to the Windsor Assembly Plant.
“We do not comment on future production plans,” said Gosselin in an email.
