The clock is ticking towards a shutdown at Windsor Assembly Plant that will affect more than just workers. “We do feel it,” said Michelle Slawik, a server at Back Road Cafe located a few blocks east of the plant. When the plant is shutdown on Oct. 19, workers will be off for three weeks. “When it’s uncertain layoffs, we feel it,” said Slawik who, like others, is anticipating a slowdown after the shutdown. “Every time they go down, it affects businesses that supply to them too, so it’s not just them. It’s everybody that gets affected by that,” Slawik said. At the plant, the mood is mixed but one thing is certain. No one is speaking about it on the record. A few did speak anonymously. One said they anticipate things working out. Another wonders if the shutdown will go beyond three weeks. A third blames the government and, more specifically, Prime Minister Mark Carney. Contract talks between the union representing workers and Stellantis continue to be at an impasse over the potential closure and sale of the Brampton Assembly Plant. Incumbent mayor Drew Dilkens is worried. “I am extremely concerned about the way this is leading to Jan. 1 when the president (U.S. President Donald Trump) has threatened 50 per cent tariff on Canadian made vehicles and parts. This will immediately idle all of the plants in Ontario and many in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky,” he said. Emile Nabbout, President of Unifor Local 195 is concerned about the impact on jobs in the community as a result of the shutdown. “Many jobs in the community will be impacted. When many layoff that people will hold on to their money and nobody want to spend so it will affect the retail, the variety store, the restaurant business and everybody else,” he said. “We hopefully can resume talk and try to strike a deal with the employer.”
