Toronto, Ontario — One day before Unifor reached a tentative agreement with Ford Motors Co, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced they will idle it’s minivan plant in Windsor, Ont., for three weeks beginning Sept. 28.
“The Windsor Assembly Plant is planning to adjust its upcoming production schedule to better align with market demand,” said FCA Canada spokeswoman LouAnn Gosselin in a statement. “This includes scheduling downtime from Sept. 29 through Oct. 16.”
This decision was made Monday, a day before Unifor’s announcement that FCA would be the next automaker it negotiates with. FCA Canada did not say whether this recent decision is tied to the ongoing contract talks.
However, in early January, FCA laid-off employees who worked the third shift, which they originally planned to cut in the summer of 2018, but was postponed. This temporary layoff caused 1,500 direct jobs to be lost.
The Windsor plant built the Chrysler Pacifica, Voyager and the Dodge Grand Caravan for the global market.
The Pacifica sales were down 52 percent to 1,065 in the first half of the year, meanwhile, the Grand Caravan sales fell 23 percent to 15,943.
Unifor said they are currently seeking another product for the plant so that a third of employees who were laid off earlier this year, can eventually return to work.
“I am not concerned about it. It actually favours us,” said Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Local 444 “We are not going to have a deal in place by the end of the shutdown, anyways.”
He said the FCA would not be able to stockpile minivans in advance of a strike.
The FCA assembly plant in Windsor has been a part of the Canadian automotive landscape since 1928.
