Stellantis has cancelled production at Windsor Assembly for the weeks of Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, 2026. That extends a Stellantis Windsor plant shutdown that started with two idle weeks in September. Unifor announced the cancellation first. AM800 reported on Oct. 2: "Unifor says production has been cancelled for the weeks of Oct. 19, 26, and Nov. 2." CTV News Windsor also reported the multi-week fall layoff. The plant builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the Dodge Charger. For a supplier feeding either vehicle, the calendar from Sept. 21 to the expected restart contains five idle weeks out of about seven. CarBuzz expects production to resume "in and around November 9." Nobody has confirmed a product plan for Windsor beyond that date.
This article is for the plant manager, controller or operations VP at a feeder plant or tier-2 supplier. It covers what to do with releases, inventory, people and cash between now and the restart, and how to set triggers in case the restart slips.
The timeline so far
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Sept. 20, 11:59 p.m.: The Unifor-Stellantis collective agreement expired, according to Unifor.
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Weeks of Sept. 21 and 28: Production was cancelled (CarBuzz). AM800 reported that "the facility in Windsor has been down the past two-weeks along with feeder plants."
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Oct. 2: Unifor announced the next three cancelled weeks. AM800 quoted the notice: "Employees must not report to work unless told otherwise, and the schedule for skilled trades will be determined at a later date."
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Oct. 5: Stellantis confirmed that the plant "will be down the weeks of Oct. 19 and 26 as well as Nov. 2" (AM800).
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Around Nov. 9: Expected return to production, per CarBuzz.
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Jan. 1, 2027: Date of the threatened U.S. tariff increase on Canadian vehicles, parts and steel.
What is known, and what is not
Stellantis gave its reason in a statement quoted by AM800: "Stellantis continues to evaluate and adjust its manufacturing operations in response to evolving market conditions, including consumer demand and the impact of tariffs." The same report says Unifor Local 444 "represents over 6,400 workers at the minivan plant." Outlets have given different headcounts, so treat that figure as AM800's.
Three things make the outlook hard to plan around.
The contract. On Sept. 11, Unifor said the parties "have reached an impasse in collective bargaining negotiations, following 10 days of intensive talks," and that "there will be no tentative settlement without a suitable resolution for Local 1285 members at Brampton." The union says Stellantis "signed a Memorandum of Understanding with defense industry supplier Roshel, who has expressed interest in purchasing the plant." On Sept. 25, CK News Today reported that "Unifor has not scheduled any strike votes to date," that the parties "remain in conciliation, a process mandated under the Ontario Labour Relations Act," and that "all terms and conditions of the current contract remain in place."
Windsor's product plan. Unifor's statement says "the company has yet to confirm forecasted plans for the Windsor Assembly Plant and Etobicoke Casting Plant." Suppliers have no confirmed signal past the restart.
Tariffs. CBS News reported on Aug. 24 that President Trump said tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel would rise to 50% on Jan. 1, 2027. Non-U.S. vehicles and parts currently carry a 25% tariff. For planning purposes, treat it as a scenario with a date attached.
Dealer stock suggests Stellantis can afford to wait. CarBuzz counts about 10,000 Pacificas at U.S. dealers, which it calls roughly a three-month supply, against Pacifica sales "topping 101,000 units in the first nine months of the year." The Charger looks weaker. CarBuzz reports "8,800 gas-powered Chargers at dealers, nearly as many as it's sold this year, plus 96 Charger EVs," and says Dodge "sold fewer than 9,000 Chargers in the first nine months of the year." Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told AM800 that "the feeder plants that supply the parts that go into the vehicles are all in jeopardy."
The 2025 shutdown gives a sense of scale. MoparInsiders reported that the April 2025 tariff shutdown "affected nearly 4,500 workers at the main plant, plus another 2,000 across local parts suppliers and feeder plants," and that five feeder facilities "which supply everything from interiors to drivetrain components, also had to shut down, impacting over 1,250 employees." Those are 2025 figures. No 2026 source we reviewed names the feeder plants laying off staff for the October and November weeks.
Releases and schedules: treat the gap as firm zero demand
Load the weeks of Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 into MRP as firm zero-demand weeks. Do not leave them as forecast that might come back. The most expensive mistake right now is a tier-2 or steel call-off arriving on a dock that has nothing to ship against.
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Push your own releases now. Freeze or reschedule tier-2 purchase orders, raw-material calls and outside processing such as plating, heat treat and coating for the idle weeks. Most supplier lead times are long enough that this week's decisions land in the gap.
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Get the part list in writing. Ask your Stellantis buyer which part numbers are affected, whether service or export volumes on the same numbers continue, and when releases for the period after Nov. 9 will be issued. A written answer matters later if you seek cost recovery.
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Plan the restart as a ramp. Assume the first week back runs below the old rate while the OEM refills its line-side stock and works through quality holds. Build the schedule so that short first-week releases do not cause overtime.
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Run Pacifica and Charger as separate scenarios. Their demand signals differ. Pacifica dealer stock is about three months of supply. Charger dealer stock is close to everything Dodge sold in nine months. Charger-only part numbers carry more risk of reduced rates after the restart, so give them a more conservative build plan.
Build ahead or burn down
Some suppliers will be tempted to keep lines running and bank parts for the restart. That only makes sense under narrow conditions:
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The part carries no pending engineering change and little obsolescence risk. This is a harder test for Charger content.
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You can finance the working capital without straining your credit line.
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You have the floor space, and the cost of handling the parts twice (pack, store, retrieve, re-inspect) is lower than the cost of an idle line.
If those conditions do not hold, burn finished goods and WIP down to safety stock and stop. Set a specific rule for shelf-life items such as sealants, adhesives, primers and coated parts: either consume them before expiry or stop receiving them. Do not let a three-week gap turn into scrap.
To compare the options, separate what you lose from what you spend. Lost contribution margin on cancelled volume is gone whatever you do. Incremental costs, such as storage, double handling, restart scrap, expedited freight and overtime during the ramp, are the ones you can still control. Our downtime cost calculator splits those two lines so the build-ahead decision rests on the right number.
Using the idle weeks
Three weeks of known downtime is rare. Use it for work that normally competes with production:
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Planned maintenance shutdowns, overdue PMs and work you have been deferring on presses, welders and paint systems.
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Die and tool refurbishment, especially on high-hit tooling for Pacifica content.
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Changeover studies, filmed and timed while the line is not under pressure.
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Cross-training and certification for operators and maintenance staff you keep on.
Decide early whether your skilled trades stay on through the gap. At the OEM, the trades schedule "will be determined at a later date," per Unifor's notice. Feeder plants should not wait for that answer to plan their own maintenance work.
Write the restart checklist now: first-article inspection on tooling that has been in storage, gauge calibration checks, and PPAP notification or quality containment for any process, tool or material that changes during the shutdown. Customer quality teams will be watching the first shipments after a long idle.
Temporary layoffs in Ontario: the ESA math
The Ontario Employment Standards Act guide sets the limits on temporary layoffs:
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A temporary layoff is "not more than 13 weeks of lay-off in any period of 20 consecutive weeks."
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A layoff can run longer, but must stay under 35 weeks in any 52, if the employer meets a condition. The conditions include continuing substantial payments, continuing benefit or pension contributions, or the employee receiving supplementary unemployment benefits.
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Since Nov. 27, 2025, layoffs of 52 or more weeks in any 78 are possible by written agreement, with Director approval.
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"A 'week of lay-off' is a week in which the employee earned less than half of what they would ordinarily earn."
If your plant idled in step with the OEM in September and again for the three fall weeks, that is five weeks of layoff, well within 13 in 20. Track each employee's rolling 20-week count anyway. If more weeks are cancelled, the count is what tells you when you need a qualifying condition or a written agreement. The week-of-layoff definition also matters if you run partial weeks: a short week in which someone earns half or more of normal pay does not count toward the limit, and one in which they earn less than half does. Check your collective agreement as well, since it may set notice, recall or benefit terms on top of the ESA minimums.
Paperwork and income support
Records of Employment. According to the ESDC ROE guide, "when an employee has had or is anticipated to have 7 consecutive calendar days with no work and no insurable earnings from the employer, an interruption of earnings occurs." The CRA says electronic ROEs are generally due "within five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which an employee experiences an interruption of earnings." Paper ROEs are due within five calendar days of the interruption or of the employer becoming aware of it. Make sure payroll knows the dates now.
SUB top-ups. A supplemental unemployment benefit plan lets an employer raise employees' weekly income during a temporary stoppage of work. The plan payment plus EI may not exceed 95% of normal weekly earnings. Registered plan payments "are not considered as earnings and are not deducted from Employment Insurance (EI) benefits." The timing rule is strict: "SUB plans must be registered before their effective date." If you want a top-up for the fall weeks and do not already have a registered plan, start that work immediately. A SUB plan also helps satisfy one of the ESA conditions for a longer temporary layoff.
EI tariff measures. ESDC's March 20 release had extended the waiting-period waiver and the suspension of separation-payment rules to claims established up to Oct. 10, 2026. On Aug. 25, Finance Canada announced it was "extending by one year the temporary Employment Insurance (EI) measure to waive the 1-week waiting period." It also extended the separation-payment measure by one year and the extra 20 weeks for long-tenured workers by eight months (Finance Canada). Tell laid-off employees to apply promptly.
Work-Sharing. ESDC says "Work-Sharing agreements must have a minimum duration of 6 weeks and can last up to 26 weeks." That makes the program a poor fit for a three-week full idle and a better fit for a longer stretch of reduced hours, such as a slower Charger rate after the restart. Tariff special measures "will now remain in effect to March 31, 2028." They allow a "maximum total of 152 weeks," waive the cooling-off period between agreements, and allow utilization "to exceed 60%." Extension requests are due "a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the end date." Finance Canada has also said a new Workforce Retention and Retraining Program "will be established, combining the existing EI Work-Sharing program and Worker Retention Grant," with up to $1,000 per participant for training and administrative costs.
US-side feeders and WARN
Suppliers shipping to Windsor from U.S. plants have a simpler notice question. Under 29 U.S.C. 2101, an "employment loss" includes "a layoff exceeding 6 months, or a reduction in hours of work of more than 50 percent during each month of any 6-month period." WARN applies to an employer that "employs 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees." A three-week layoff with a defined recall date is not an employment loss under the federal definition. If the gap becomes an extended or indefinite reduction, the 6-month tests become relevant. Several states have their own notice laws with different thresholds, so check with counsel in each state where you operate.
Protecting cash
Five idle weeks out of about seven will hit receivables a few weeks after the volume stops, which is when payroll for the restart is due. Rebuild your 13-week cash forecast now:
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Tie weekly receipts to actual OEM releases, not to the old forecast. Assume nothing ships in the cancelled weeks.
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Confirm payment dates on parts already shipped and invoiced, and chase anything overdue before the gap.
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Talk to your own suppliers about terms before you need to, not after.
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Defer discretionary capex. Keep spending on items that protect the restart, such as tooling and critical spares.
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Check credit-line covenants against a quarter with lower revenue, and speak to your lender early if a covenant is at risk.
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Review your purchase-order terms for recovery of costs tied to cancelled firm releases, and raise it with the buyer while the facts are fresh.
Federal liquidity programs are available. Finance Canada describes a "$500 million liquidity stream through BDC's Pivot to Grow program, to provide working capital to businesses facing cash-flow shortfalls," with "loans ranging from $250,000 to $5 million." For larger firms, the "$10 billion Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility" now extends liquidity supports "from 24 to 36 months" and the maximum loan term "from 10 to 15 years." The August package also includes a $1.5 billion Regional Tariff Response Initiative for small and medium-sized businesses.
Three scenarios, each with a trigger
Agree on these with your leadership team now, so the response is already decided when the news arrives.
A. Restart around Nov. 9 as expected. Trigger: firm releases for the week of Nov. 9 arrive. Action: recall staff on the ramp schedule, run the restart quality checklist, and resume tier-2 releases at reduced first-week quantities.
B. More weeks cancelled while the Brampton impasse continues. Trigger: another cancellation notice, or no firm releases for the period after Nov. 9 by a date you set in advance. Action: update each employee's 13-in-20 count; decide whether to meet an ESA condition (continued benefits or a registered SUB plan) for layoffs beyond 13 weeks; burn inventory to safety stock; draw on committed liquidity.
C. A 50% tariff from Jan. 1, 2027. Trigger: the increase takes effect or the OEM cuts rates in anticipation. Action: prepare a Work-Sharing application for reduced hours, keeping the 6-week minimum and 4-week extension lead time in mind; reprice or rework the cost of any U.S.-bound content; resize the cash forecast for a lower run rate.
Decisions to make this week
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Load Oct. 19, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 as zero-demand weeks and push tier-2 and raw-material releases.
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Get the affected part numbers and the release timing for the period after Nov. 9 in writing from your buyer.
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Decide build-ahead or burn-down for each part family, with Charger content treated conservatively.
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Schedule maintenance, tooling and changeover work for the gap and decide who in the trades stays on.
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Brief payroll on ROE dates; start SUB registration if you want a top-up.
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Rebuild the 13-week cash forecast and open conversations with your lender and BDC if needed.
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Write down the triggers for scenarios B and C.
Related reading
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How to Find the Cost Crossover Between Binder Jetting and Metal Injection Molding
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How to Cut Single Source Supplier Risk After the F-150 Stoppage
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Why MasterBrand Is Turning Kinston Into a Frameless-Only Plant
Sources
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AM800 CKLW: Windsor Assembly Plant to idle again (Oct. 2, 2026)
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AM800 CKLW: Dilkens concerned as Windsor Assembly Plant faces more downtime (Oct. 5, 2026)
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Unifor: Statement on contract negotiations with Stellantis (Sept. 11, 2026)
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CK News Today: Unifor, Stellantis contract negotiations still stalled (Sept. 25, 2026)
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MoparInsiders: Windsor Assembly Returning To Work, But For How Long?
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Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, Termination of employment
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CRA: What should you do if an employee has an interruption of earnings?
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ESDC: Government of Canada extending Employment Insurance temporary measures (Mar. 20, 2026)
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Finance Canada: Support for Canadian workers and businesses affected by U.S. tariffs (Aug. 2026)
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Finance Canada: Canada announces targeted countermeasures and substantive support (Aug. 25, 2026)