Stellantis reverses its decision to lay off 1,100 employees at its Jeep factory in Ohio

The automobile group finally reversed its decision on the social plan announced in early November at its Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio.

The Stellantis automobile group confirmed on Saturday that it was reversing the dismissal of 1,100 employees at its Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio (north), claiming to review its strategy in North America after the departure of its now former boss, Carlos Tavares.

“No employee will be laid off from January 5 as initially planned due to a reduction in rotations,” declared a spokesperson for the group, confirming information initially published by the specialized agency Bloomberg.

“Regain” competitiveness

“All employees are expected to return to work as planned after the New Year,” the Stellantis spokesperson added. The group justifies this decision by its desire to review “its strategy in North America”, after having pushed its general director, Carlos Tavares, towards the exit.

The layoffs at the Toledo factory were announced at the beginning of November, with Stellantis justifying these departures by the need to “regain” competitiveness for the site, which assembles Jeep cars.

The plan also provided for certain activities, concerning 400 employees, to be “transferred to an external service provider”. According to the car manufacturer, it was a question of adapting production to sales, which plunged in the third quarter by 20% to 1.15 million vehicles delivered.

The group's turnover collapsed over this period in North America (-42%, to 12.4 billion euros) due to a drop in sales and promotions launched to reduce vehicle stocks. .

“Towards the right direction”

But Stellantis has profoundly revised its approach since the departure of Carlos Tavares on December 1, the new interim general manager notably giving guarantees to the French and Italian governments on the maintenance of its production and investments in the two countries.

Stellantis, born in 2021 from the merger of the Italian-American groups FCA (Fiat-Chrysler) and French PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS…), had 258,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2023.

In a letter addressed to its members, the director of the American union of automobile industry workers UAW within Stellantis, Kevin Gotinsky, estimated Thursday that “we are moving in the right direction” after the departure of Carlos Tavares and was optimistic about the possibility of management reversing its decision regarding the Toledo site.