Status Quo at Windsor Assembly Plant Despite Company Merger
The President of Unifor Local 444, representing workers at the Windsor Assembly Plant, says it is business as usual, despite a company merger.
The boards at Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot announced the merger on Wednesday creating the world's fourth-largest automaker with a value of about $50-billion.
Local 444 President Dave Cassidy says it doesn't change the fact the Windsor Assembly Plant builds a great product.
Given that it is a 50/50 merger, Cassidy hopes it will open Fiat Chrysler to new markets.
Cassidy says in Windsor, it is status quo.
"Whoever our employer is, I mean they know that whatever they give us, we are going to be the facility that will make sure we are top notch in whatever we build," he says.
Cassidy says any merger is about sustainability, quoting former president and CEO of Fiat Chrysler ,Sergio Marchionne.
"We have a collective agreement and that collective agreement, whoever owns us is going to follow us," he says. "We do go into bargaining next year in 2020 but I see nothing changing, but like I say all the time in Windsor, we build the best product around."
There are about 6,000 workers at the Windsor Assembly Plant, but its third shift is in jeopardy.
The third shift was set to end on September 30, 2019, but it has been extended until the end of 2019.
Cassidy says the minivan plant is set up to build multiple vehicles and hopes to gain a new product to protect jobs.
— With files from AM800's Teresinha Medeiros and Rob Hindi