The United Auto Workers has filed grievances against Stellantis with the National Labor Relations Board over alleged plans to move Dodge Durango production out of Detroit.
The unfair labor practice charges center on “Stellantis’ illegal refusal to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement,” the unions said in a statement cited by Crain’s Detroit Business.
The UAW alleges locals have filed contract grievances over alleged efforts by Stellantis to move Dodge Durango production out of the country. The Durango, along with the Jeep Grand Cherokee, is currently produced at a Detroit Assembly Complex.
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“In our 2023 contract, we won major gains, including a commitment to reopen an idled assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, and to build the Dodge Durango in Detroit. We also won the right to strike over those commitments, if we have to,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “Now, Stellantis wants to go back on the deal. As a united UAW, we intend to enforce our contract, and to make Stellantis keep the promise.”
The grievances in Michigan, as well as others involving Belvidere, follow Stellantis’ announcement earlier this month to spend $406 million to upgrade three Michigan plants to build electric Ram trucks and Jeep Wagoneers. Stellantis is expected to lay off up to 2,450 workers at a Warren Truck plant next month as it discontinues its Ram 1500 Classic, according to Crain’s.
That layoffs were announced about a month after the company offered buyouts for non-unionized workers in July amid “inflationary pressures” and declining interest in electric vehicles.
Stellantis issued an earnings report in July that showed a decline of 48% through the first six months of 2024, The Detroit News reports.
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Company officials contend the EV market is “still at an early highly volatile stage,” and it’s working 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.”
“The (EV) investments we announced (in September) will help ensure Sterling Heights Assembly, Warren Truck and Dundee Engine’s positions in our electrified future,” Stellantis said in a statement. “That’s a good thing, and we reject any effort to minimize it.”
Details of the alleged efforts to offshore production of the Durango are not available, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson provided a statement to the news site in regards to the UAW’s latest grievances.
“Stellantis has not received the filing, and therefore has not had an opportunity to review the charge,” the statement read. “The Company has not violated the commitments made in the Investment Letter included in the 2023 UAW Collective Bargaining Agreement. 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. We will communicate our plans to the UAW at the appropriate time.”
The UAW’s threat to strike over grievances in Belvidere and Detroit come as Fain campaigns for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race. Harris has worked under the Biden-Harris administration to impose emissions standards that effectively ban all current model gasoline-powered cars.
Former President Donald Trump has vowed to trash the Biden-Harris “EV mandate” if re-elected in November, touting polling that shows “we have 88% of the autoworkers.” Trump has vowed to preserve both gas and electric vehicle options, while ditching Biden-Harris policies he believes will result in a “complete obliteration” of the U.S. auto industry.
A recent analysis of regulations from the Biden-Harris administration estimates they will result in the loss of more than 37,000 auto manufacturing jobs in Michigan, and 123,000 nationwide.
In Michigan, 63% oppose the Biden-Harris ban on gas vehicles, and 68% told the Remington Research Group a candidate’s position on stopping the government-imposed transition to EVs “is an important factor in their vote.”