The UAW union’s Stellantis Council met yesterday to discuss the beleaguered carmaker’s “ongoing failure” to honor the agreement that ended the 2023 labor strike, and their latest union memo doesn’t pull many punches.
It’s not a great time to be Stellantis. Its dealers are suing leadership and threatening to oust the company’s controversial CEO, Carlos Tavares, as sales continue to crater in North America, it can’t move its new, high-profile electric Fiat, and it’s first luxury electric Jeep isn’t ready. And now, things are about to get bad.
Top comment by cuhulin1
The entire Stellantis conglomerate is a mistake. The company has no brand identity, no product focus, and seems to be nothing more than a bad business school case study.
Jeep is too expensive for its market. Chrysler and Dodge barely exist in the US and the same is true in Europe for many of its brands. Really, only RAM seems to have an identity, but that identity is not sufficiently distinct from Ford, GM and Toyota to make the company run.
For this reason, I don't think the UAW is wrong here. Just letting Stellantis violate its collective bargaining agreement will do the union no good - a breach today will be followed by another next year and so on, to the point that there is no reason to have an agreement. If Stellantis works with the union, on the other hand, the good working people in the union may be able to help Stellantis actually make some decent cars and trucks that people like those union workers can afford.
What a concept! Didn't someone else in the auto business try to sell cars that his employees could afford?
In an email sent out by the UAW earlier today (received at 4:55PM CST), UAW President Shawn Fain wrote, “For years, the company picked us off plant-by-plant and we lacked the will and the means to fight back. Today is different. Because we stood together and demanded the right to strike over job security—product commitment—we have the tools to fight back and win … We unanimously recommend to the membership that every UAW worker at Stellantis prepare for a fight, and we all get ready to vote YES to authorize a strike at Stellantis.”
The dispute seems to stem from Stellantis’ inability to commit to new product (and continued employment) at its UAW-run plants and other failings to meet its strike-ending obligations. This, despite a €3 billion stock buyback executed in late 2023.
I’ve included the memo, in its entirety, below. Take a look for yourself, and let us know what you think of the UAW’s call for action in the comments.
UAW memo
SOURCE: UAW, via email.
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