XPost: alt.society.labor-unions, alt.cars.jeep, rec.autos.makers.chrysler   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: democrat-insurrection@mail.house.gov   
      
   https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2024/09/24/stellantis-uaw-   
   worker-layoffs-external-market-conditions/75362821007/   
      
   Stellantis is planning indefinite layoffs of union-represented workers   
   "across its footprint" and is cutting seasonal supplemental employees as   
   well.   
      
   The total number of workers who will be affected was unclear as of   
   Tuesday.   
      
   "This affects many of our U.S. manufacturing facilities, but we are not   
   providing specific details," Stellantis spokeswoman Ann Marie Fortunate   
   said.   
      
   Recent social media posts indicate workers at numerous plants have either   
   been told of cuts or are bracing for them.   
      
   The company provided statements highlighting market conditions and vehicle   
   affordability as the reasoning behind the layoffs.   
      
   "Stellantis is in full execution mode focused on both protecting the   
   company from the continued intense external market conditions and, at the   
   same time, offering customers vehicles they can afford," according to a   
   statement about the layoffs provided by Fortunate. "As such, we are   
   continuing to take the necessary actions to improve operations across our   
   facilities; this includes ongoing assessments of our manufacturing   
   processes to improve efficiency. While that effort continues, the company   
   will be implementing indefinite layoffs of represented employees across   
   its footprint."   
      
   More:Stellantis CFO says automaker will cut 100K vehicles from inventory   
   by 2025   
      
   The other statement noted that "seasonal supplemental employees hired to   
   support production by covering for increased vacation usage during the   
   summer months will be separated from the company effective Oct. 1, in   
   accordance with the 2023 UAW collective bargaining agreement."   
      
   The Free Press reached out to the company last week to ask about potential   
   supplemental cuts and again on Tuesday after a letter from UAW Local 1700   
   leadership was posted on Facebook saying that 177 supplemental workers   
   were being terminated and 14 full-time union workers would be laid off   
   indefinitely as of Thursday at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, where the   
   Ram 1500 pickup is built.   
      
   The letter noted that affected workers learned of the job cuts via phone   
   call.   
      
   Local 1700 Vice President Eric Watters said the company's actions leave   
   many questions to be answered.   
      
   "We're trying to understand their method of operation. We don't know the   
   game plan," he said, noting the plant's history of producing award-winning   
   products. "We're looking for answers ourselves."   
      
   Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands, has   
   lately been trading jabs with the UAW. The union says the company isn't   
   living up to its investment commitments in the contract that was   
   negotiated last year, which the company disputes.   
      
   One particular point of contention involves the Dodge Durango. The company   
   won't say definitively whether it is planning to move Durango production   
   from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, as the union contends.   
      
   The automaker has also announced that it will cut a shift at its Warren   
   Truck plant this year, and it says it has delayed plans to reopen the   
   idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois.   
      
   The union has filed grievances with the company, charges with the National   
   Labor Relations Board and has threatened a potential national strike over   
   product investment-related issues.   
      
   More changes could be on the way, too. Stellantis Chief Financial Officer   
   Natalie Knight told analysts Monday that the company intends to have 80%   
   of "our supply" coming from "best-cost countries" in coming years, echoing   
   a theme the automaker has been touting to investors this year.   
      
   Stellantis' issues go well beyond its fight with the UAW, however. The   
   company has been struggling with high inventories, lower sales in its   
   crucial U.S. market and diminished profits, although it has remained   
   profitable, according to its most recent earnings report. Stellantis' U.S.   
   dealers issued a highly critical letter calling out CEO Carlos Tavares,   
   saying they'd been warning executives about the company's direction for   
   more than two years.   
      
   The company has launched a search for a successor to Tavares, although   
   Stellantis, in a statement, pointed to the expiration in 2026 of Tavares'   
   contract, describing such a search as normal given the importance of the   
   position and suggesting that he might stay on longer.   
      
   Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.   
   Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.   
      
      
   --   
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.   
      
   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
   Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
   dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)