700 take assembly plant buyout package

A total of 700 Windsor Assembly Plant workers have accepted buyout packages from FCA Canada as the company prepares to eliminate the third shift at the facility in a couple of weeks.

Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy confirmed the figure in a statement posted on the local’s Facebook page.

“(The company) had slated 1,375 jobs with the elimination of the third shift,” Cassidy said. “We have 700 retirees.

“If we did the math based just on that, it looks today that (a seniority cutoff date of) Feb. 28, 2016 holds the plant with just those numbers.”

The seniority cutoff date means any person hired after Feb. 28, 2016 would be laid off to bring the job reduction total to 1,375.

However, Cassidy cautioned the union doesn’t yet know what the final layoff figure will be.

There are still a number of other workers on various leaves, workers’ compensation or who opted to take a voluntary termination to factor in, which could reduce the layoff figure of 675 significantly.

There are just under 6,000 people employed at the Windsor plant.

“If you factor in all of those (people), that’s going to expand it from February (further) into 2016,” Cassidy said. “We don’t have the exact numbers. I know it’s not easy. It’s a terrible situation.”

Cassidy added he’s unsure when a cutoff date will be set with so many moving parts still in the decision-making process.

“Any dates someone gives you right now are honestly just a guess at this time,” Cassidy said.

FCA Canada has previously announced the plant will return to a two-shift operation July 13 for the first time since 1993. The company has extended the date of the end of the third shift five times, but another extension for the third shift and the Dodge Grand Caravan model isn’t in the cards.

“July 13 is the date the plant returns to a traditional two-shift operation,” said FCA Canada’s head of communications Lou Ann Gosselin on Tuesday. “(It’s) late August for the end of Dodge Grand Caravan production.”

The seniority list and job placements have to be sorted out as the picture of who remains becomes clearer.

Unifor is also working with government officials on aiding workers who are going to be laid off.

“I have also been working on a government assessment centre strictly for Unifor 444 members who are laid off,” Cassidy said.

“In conjunction with the Unemployed Help Centre and other service providers, it will be a tremendous asset for those laid off in terms of job searching, resume building, schooling opportunities, etc.”

Those laid off will also have priority to work as a TPT (temporarily part-time employee).

Dental and vision benefits will cease a month after the layoff for departing workers. The remaining benefit package will be extended for a period of time based on years of service.

It will range from two months of benefits for workers with one to two years of service up to 12 months for those with six to seven years.

Unifor is also continuing to lobby the federal government about restoring employment insurance eligibility and not penalizing workers eligible for supplemental employment benefits as a result of the plant’s two-month shutdown this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We still have that (EI issue) along with SUB (Supplemental Unemployment Benefit) as two top priorities,” Cassidy wrote.

“The government has all the info, we await their decision. Both locally and nationally we are pushing to try to get the government to change the rules.”

With Unifor set to begin contract negotiations with the three Detroit automakers in August, Cassidy has vowed to make securing the Windsor Assembly Plant’s future the top priority in talks with FCA Canada. The union has been pressuring FCA to add another product to the plant to complement the Pacifica and Voyageur minivans.