Another blow for Canadian autoworkers: FCA to lay off 1,500 at Windsor

Fiat Chrysler

says it will cut a third shift at its Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario, meaning layoffs for 1,500 workers in response to softening sales of the

Chrysler Pacifica minivan

. Separately,

FCA

announced it was moving up the scheduled two-week shutdown at the plant by one week, to the weeks of April 1 and 8.

It’s the latest blow for blue-collar autoworkers in

Canada

, who have been rocked by the

potential closure of GM’s assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario

, after production of the

Chevrolet Impala

and

Cadillac XTS

ends later this year. It will be the first time since 1993 that FCA’s Windsor plant has operated on just two shifts, but the shutdown that began this week marks the third time the plant has been shut down this year.

The Detroit News reports

that action at the Windsor plant would be effective Sept. 30. It quoted Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Local 444, at a news conference late last week: “People’s lives — 1,500 direct families — depend on us,” he said. “We’re going to do everything possible to make sure we maintain three shifts. Everyone knows our product in Windsor is No. 1, and if you want to build it right, you want to build it in Windsor.”

FCA says it’s making the cutback to better align production with demand. Through the first two months of 2019, U.S. sales of the

Pacifica

were down 24 percent to 14,817, with sales of the

Grand Caravan

, which is also built in Windsor, down 27 percent to 19,634. For the full-year 2018, Pacifica sales were flat at 118,322, while

Grand Caravan

sales rose 21 percent to 151,927.

In Canada, the Pacifica saw a 3 percent drop in 2018 to just 5,999.

FCA says it plans to offer retirement packages to eligible employees and will try to place laid-off hourly workers in open positions elsewhere as they become available. The company in February announced

plans to invest $4.5 billion

across the river to build a new assembly plant in Detroit and expand production at five other local plants in a move that will see it create 6,500 new jobs, pending certain assistance from the city of Detroit. The new Detroit plant will transform the existing Mack Avenue

Engine

facility into a production site for the next-generation

Jeep Grand Cherokee

and a new three-row

Jeep SUV

. That plan alone is said to involve 3,850 new jobs.