“Solidarity is our greatest strength,” a packed house of unionized Stellantis workers in Brampton were told last Thursday as their union pushes to re-open the idled Brampton Assembly plant.

Hundreds of members gathered at the Unifor Local 1285 hall on February 19 to hear an update on how Unifor plans to pressure Stellantis to bring Jeep production back to the city.

“This is a difficult moment, but it is moments like this that leadership matters and in these moments, solidarity becomes our greatest strength,” said Brampton Assembly Plant Skilled Trades Chair Jason Watson. “Corporations will always prioritize profit. They do not make decisions based on conscience or community. That is why we exist. This is why working people form unions. We are the balance. We are the voice. We are the moral compass. We will continue to fight with integrity and together we will see this through.”

Brampton Assembly Plant Skilled Trades Chair Jason Watson

Unifor President Lana Payne said the challenges facing the industry are not accidental, but part of a broader pattern of economic pressure.

“We need to understand that the attack on our auto industry has been surgical, designed to do exactly what we’re seeing,” she said. “This industry does not belong to Donald Trump or the United States or anybody else. It belongs to us, and we have to fight for it every single minute of every single day.”

Payne pointed out that tariffs do not excuse what happened in Brampton, arguing that Stellantis had other options.

 

Unifor National President Lana Payne

“Since Stellantis announced its temporary pause in February last year, there hasn’t been a week when this local team, all of us together, haven’t demanded answers and clarity from the company,” she said. “We’re going to keep building cars in Brampton. Let’s keep fighting together, and let’s make sure that we are saving this industry for you and for your kids and for the next generation of workers, because they deserve to work in an auto industry in this country.”

Unifor Local 1285 President Vito Beato promised to hold the company “accountable.”

“We are not going to let them off the hook. Stellantis has got to stop appeasing the U.S. administration and look at the federal government’s auto strategy for pieces they can use to get the Brampton plant back up and running.”


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