Canada’s Unifor union says between 600 and 750 of its members at the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles minivan plant in Windsor, Canada, have requested early-retirement incentive packages as the automaker prepares to cut a shift of production there.
Unifor Local 444, which represents about 6,000 hourly workers at the plant, said in a Facebook post Thursday that the number includes production workers, skilled trades employees and those in the Fiat-Chrysler Auto Transport unit.
Eligible members had until 8 a.m. on June 15 to request an incentive package.
FCA might still have to eliminate about another 1,000 jobs, according to the union.
“When the company informed us of the third shift’s loss, they said it would affect approximately 1,700 jobs,” Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy said in the post. “There are tons of variables that go into even that. Number one, your stewards, your committees and your local will continue to fight every single job elimination there is. We will not just accept because the loss of the shift automatically equals X amount of jobs. The fights about how many jobs we now need on two shifts are ongoing.”
FCA is moving to a two-shift operation on July 13.
About 6,500 workers in total build the Chrysler Pacifica and Voyager and Grand Caravan on three shifts in Windsor.
Canadian Pacifica sales fell 38 percent to 3,731 in 2019. Grand Caravan sales in Canada dropped 15 percent to 27,362 last year.
In the U.S., sales totaled 97,705 for the Pacifica in 2019, a 17 percent drop from the previous year. Caravan sales also slipped 19 percent to 122,648 units.
The Chrysler Voyager isn’t sold in Canada at the moment, but it is available in the United States.