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FCA Canada head of communications LouAnn Gosselin confirmed the news in an emailed statement.

“In order to better align production with global demand at its Windsor Assembly Plant, FCA notified Unifor today that it intends to return the plant to a traditional two-shift operation, beginning Sept. 30, 2019,” Gosselin wrote.

“Retirement packages will be offered to eligible employees. The Company will make every effort to place indefinitely laid off hourly employees in open full-time positions as they become available based on seniority.”

On Tuesday, FCA announced that Windsor Assembly, which currently employs 6,100 people, would be on shutdown for the weeks of April 8 and 15.

Photo by Chris Thompson / Windsor Star

It will be the third time the plant is on shutdown this year, but Cassidy said he was blindsided by Thursday’s announcement.

“No, I had no indication,” Cassidy said.

“They announced the two-week shutdown and that’s all we knew. It’s cyclical, right? They go up and down, we have layoff weeks, there’s inventory adjustment and at that point there was no discussion of that at all. At 2 o’clock today James and I received the notice, the company asked us to come to a meeting, we went to a meeting.

“It’s so new.”

Asked about Mayor Drew Dilkens’ state of the city speech earlier this year where Dilkens stressed Windsor’s need to diversify, Cassidy became enraged.

“(Expletive) Drew,” Cassidy said.

“Seriously. Drew Dilkens, I have reached out to Drew Dilkens so many times, I have tried to bridge a gap there, the election is over, Drew Dilkens can’t take his finger off — there are two crown jewels in this city right tied to this local, Windsor Assembly Plant and Casino Windsor. Drew Dilkens needs to pay attention to this. This is devastating for the City of Windsor and I hope that Drew Dilkens might reach out to me.