Jerry Dias expects to meet FCA next week about Windsor's third shift

Unifor's national president Jerry Diasis meeting top executives at Fiat Chrysler Automobilesto find out what can be done to save the third shift at Windsor Assembly Plant.

This meeting will be the first since the auto maker announced it will be ending the third shift as of Sept. 30, 2019.

About 1,500 jobs will be lost.

"It's all about what's the short term, what's the long-term," said Dias. "We obviously need another product to complement the existing portfolio."

A spokespeson with Uniforsaid they expect to meet sometime next week.

On Monday, workers will also be returning to work for the first time since the layoff announcement. The plant had been shut down for the past two weeks.

Automotive expert Dennis Desrosierssaid there are a combination of things that can happen to protect the third shift.

One of them is putting a new product into the plant, but he said it will take some work and effort for the FCA to figure it out.

"The plant's a great plant," said Desrosiers."There should be an avenue for [FCA] to give [the workers] a little bit more job security."