Windsor Assembly idled again: your layoff rights

Stellantis is idling the Windsor Assembly Plant for three more weeks, starting October 19. For more than 6,400 workers that makes five weeks at home out of seven, and the parts plants that feed the line are hit too. Here are the facts as reported, what the union agreement and Ontario law say, and when a "temporary" layoff stops being temporary.

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The facts so far

• September 20: the collective agreement between Stellantis and Unifor expired. Talks that began September 1 are at a standstill, largely over the Brampton assembly plant, which the company says it wants to sell (CBC News).
• Late September: the Windsor plant was down for two weeks, along with feeder plants. Workers were due back Monday, October 5 (CBC News, AM800 CKLW).
• October 2: Stellantis said it will idle the plant for the weeks of October 19, October 26 and November 2, citing market conditions, consumer demand and tariffs. Unifor Local 444's president told members the same day (CBC News, CTV News).
• October 6: the local said production workers stay home those weeks unless a supervisor says otherwise, and that the skilled trades schedule would come later (CK News Today).

CBC News and CTV News put the number affected at more than 6,400. The plant builds the Chrysler Pacifica and the Dodge Charger.

What the agreement says

The 2023 agreement expired on September 20, 2026. Stellantis told CBC News that workers are following its terms for now. The full text we found in public is the earlier one, the 2020 Production and Maintenance Agreement, which expired in 2023. Unifor's 2023 bargaining report lists what changed. Between them:

• Notice: the company gives 24 hours' notice of a layoff "when reasonably possible" (2020 text, clause 6.2).
• Your place in line: seniority ends only after 60 months in a row without being called to work, or a period equal to your seniority if that is longer (2020 text, clause 5.3).
• Top-up pay: the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB), a plan that adds to Employment Insurance during a stoppage of work. The 2023 report says its basic rate rose from 65% to 70%, that full-time employees qualify after one year of seniority, and that you start each new layoff with your maximum SUB credits.
• Benefits: the same report says dental coverage continues during a layoff, in line with health care coverage.

Your Local 444 benefit representative has the text in force and your own figures.

What the law adds

Ontario's Employment Standards Act (ESA) sets the limits, whatever a layoff is called.

• What counts as a week: any week in which you earn less than half your regular week's pay (s. 56(3.1)).
• 13 weeks: a layoff is temporary if it lasts no more than 13 weeks in any 20 in a row.
• Under 35 weeks: it can run to less than 35 weeks in any 52 if, for example, you receive supplementary unemployment benefits or the employer keeps paying into your benefits or pension (s. 56(2)(b)).
• At 35 weeks: the layoff becomes a termination, with termination pay and, for employees with five years or more at an employer with a payroll of $2.5 million or more, severance pay (ss. 56, 63 and 64).

Five weeks in seven is well short of those limits. But the weeks are counted over a rolling year, so repeated down weeks add up.

One more rule matters while the contract is open: a week without work because of a strike or lockout is an "excluded week" and does not count as a week of layoff (s. 56(3)).

How courts have ruled

Recall rights don't stop the clock. In C.A.W. Local No. 27 v. London Machinery Inc., 2006 CanLII 8711 (ON CA), a unionized welder had recall rights for two years. The Court of Appeal held that a layoff past 35 weeks stays temporary only if the employee is actually recalled within the agreed time. He hadn't been at week 35, so he was owed termination pay and the choice the Act gives: take the money, or keep the right to be recalled (s. 67).

Separate layoffs are added together. In Elsegood v. Cambridge Spring Service (2001) Ltd., 2011 ONCA 831, a technician with about seven years of service and no written contract was laid off, recalled, then laid off again. When the two layoffs together reached 35 weeks in 52, his employment was over in law, and the Court of Appeal upheld an award of six months' pay in place of notice.

If you work at a supplier

Many feeder and parts plants stop when the assembly line does, and not all are unionized. The ESA limits above apply to you too. Two differences:

• Without a union agreement, your employer can lay you off only if your contract allows it. Ontario's guide to the ESA says a layoff the contract doesn't allow, even one meant to be temporary, may be a constructive dismissal (a change so serious it counts as being let go). We covered a recent Court of Appeal decision on layoff clauses.
• Since November 27, 2025, a non-union layoff can run past 35 weeks (but under 52 in any 78) only with your written agreement and the approval of the Director of Employment Standards (ss. 56(2)(d) and 66.1). You can't withdraw that agreement once given.

What to expect

• Now: write down each down week. Keep every notice and pay stub.
• October 19 to November 8: the announced idle weeks. Apply for Employment Insurance, and ask your benefit representative about SUB.
• Week of November 9: the first week not on the company's list. No date beyond that has been announced either way.
• In a union: ESA rights are enforced through the collective agreement and a grievance, not a Ministry complaint (s. 99). Start with your steward.
• Not in a union: if a layoff becomes a termination, courts can award more than the ESA minimum. The calculator shows both.

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More: our guide to the Stelco layoffs and court decisions on temporary layoffs →

Ontario Severance is independent and isn't a law firm; this is general information. From a chat or a calculator result, you can ask us for help finding an employment lawyer, and we reply within one business day.