The UAW filed federal unfair labour practice charges at the National Labour Relations Board, accusing Stellantis of refusing to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in its collective bargaining agreement. — Reuters
NEW YORK: The United Auto Workers will ask members to greenlight a strike against Stellantis NV, escalating an already tense standoff with one of the largest car manufacturers in the United States.
The union will hold strike authorisation votes at several local chapters in the coming days, seeking to pressure the company into abiding by investment stipulations in the 2023 contract, union president Shawn Fain said in a dynamic online speech broadcast on Tuesday.
“Stellantis has declared war on the American working class,” Fain said.
“The company has decided to respond to our support by abandoning their workers, dealers, consumers and the American taxpayer.”
On Monday, the UAW filed federal unfair labour practice charges at the National Labour Relations Board, accusing Stellantis of refusing to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in its collective bargaining agreement.
Fain first warned of the potential strike last month, when the UAW said Stellantis had informed union officials that the company won’t open an auto-parts hub in Belvidere, Illinois, this year.
As part of its US$19bil contract that ended a contentious six-week strike by the UAW last year, Stellantis agreed to create an auto parts hub in Belvidere after consolidating parts distribution centres across the country.
It also agreed to restart its idled Belvidere assembly plant in 2027. The plant, which at one point employed 5,000 workers, was supposed to run two shifts to build a midsize pickup truck.
At the time, Stellantis also said it would build a US$3.2bil battery plant in Illinois with a still-to-be-determined partner that would employ 1,300 people when it opens in 2028.
The UAW said Stellantis won’t begin stamping operations at the facility in 2025 or start producing a mid-size truck there in 2027, as was agreed to during negotiations.
In his speech on Tuesday, Fain accused Stellantis executives – in remarkably personal terms – of trying to punt the reopening of Belvidere until after the collective bargaining agreement expires.
“We aren’t the problem. The market isn’t the problem. Carlos Tavares is the problem,” Fain said pointedly of the Stellantis chief executive officer.
In addition to accusing Stellantis of backtracking on plans for Belvidere, several UAW locals have filed contract grievances over the company’s attempt to move Dodge Durango production out of the United States, something the union said is also a violation of its national agreement.
The Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle is currently made at Stellantis’ Jefferson North plant in Detroit.
Stellantis “has not violated the commitments made in the investment letter included in the 2023 UAW collective bargaining agreement,” the company said.
“Like all of our competitors, Stellantis is attempting to carefully manage how and when we bring new vehicles to market with a focus on enhancing our competitiveness and ensuring our future sustainability and growth.”
Stellantis, formed from the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group, has seen its sales and market share plunge over the past year after aggressive price increases and an ageing lineup left its vehicles competitively disadvantaged.
In July, the automaker reported a 48% drop in net income for the first half of the year. — Bloomberg
