A weld curtain hangs between two operators working on the underbody of a Dodge Grand Caravan at FCA’s Windsor, Ont., assembly plant. The barrier helps protect employees from the spread and transmission of COVID-19.
Stellantis has extended the life of a second shift at its minivan plant in Windsor, Ont.
The automaker said on Thursday it will now knock the Windsor Assembly Plant down to a single shift at the end of June 2022.
Stellantis on Thursday said in a statement that its original timing laid out in a news release issued in October 2021 “referenced the timing as beginning in the early spring.”
Unifor Local 444, which represents workers at the factory, said in its own statement at that time the change was to take place on April 17, 2022.
Stellantis on Thursday said it “can confirm that the shift elimination timing has been extended through Q2 of 2022.”
The automaker declined to comment further on why it extended the shift.
About 4,500 people, the majority of them Unifor members, build the Chrysler Pacifica and Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid for global markets, the Chrysler Grand Caravan for the Canadian market and Chrysler Voyager for fleet sales.
The cut will affect 1,800 jobs, the company previously told Automotive News Canada.
Prior to its merger with PSA Group, Fiat Chrysler pledged during 2020 contract negotiations with Unifor to invest between $1.35 billion and $1.5 billion to begin building electrified vehicles at the Windsor assembly plant.
Both the union and automaker maintain that promise will be kept.
Canadian Pacifica sales were up 64 per cent to 4,505 in 2021. The automaker sold 2,721 Chrysler Grand Caravans in Canada last year. The automaker in 2020 eliminated the Dodge Caravan and moved it into the Chrysler product line.
As recently as 2019, the Windsor Assembly Plant was a three-shift operation.
