The president of Unifor Local 444 says he is confident that approximately 100 of his members laid off from the Windsor Assembly Plant will eventually return back to work.
A spokesperson for Stellantis confirmed to CTV News over the weekend that notices were issued to a "small number of employees" on Friday. Adding that the layoffs were based on seniority and a result of regular volume adjustments at the plant.
James Stewart said those adjustments included company changes to the ratios on the line for what vehicles they are building.
"And we're in what they call our 110 day language period, which is a period of efficiencies. Management goes in and tries to create efficiencies in the plant and that results in some job loss," Stewart said.
Stewart said he has no doubt that the laid off workers will be back at WAP, but could not say when.
"They go through a process at the plant where heads fall out, other jobs need help. They are going into a couple of launches sometime in the future and that will create the need for those people and they'll return, but certainty I expect they'll return at some point," Stewart said.
Stewart said the union is now trying to find employment opportunities for the affected workers.
"The reps in the plant try and find opportunities to return those people as fast as we can. This is a normal part of the business, prior to last the last couple of years, we could see juniors float in and out from the bottom depending on efficiencies in the plant," he said.
Earlier this year, Stellantis paused production of the electric Dodge Charger citing U.S. tariffs and poor electric vehicle sales.