no layoffs for 1,100 employees at the Jeep factory in Ohio

The Stellantis automobile group confirmed on Saturday December 21 to reverse the dismissal of 1,100 employees from its Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio (United States), 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.

“All employees are expected back to work as planned after the New Year”added the Stellantis spokesperson. The group justifies this decision by its desire to review “its strategy in North America”after pushing its general director, Carlos Tavares, out. The layoffs at the Toledo factory were announced at the beginning of November, with Stellantis justifying these departures by the need to “find” competitiveness for the site, which assembles Jeep cars.

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Change of direction

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. .

But Stellantis has significantly revised its approach since the departure of Mr. Tavares on December 1, with the new interim general manager 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, which AFP was able to consult, the director of the American union of automobile industry workers UAW within Stellantis, Kevin Gotinsky, estimated Thursday that “we are heading in the right direction” after the departure of Carlos Tavares and was optimistic about the possibility of seeing management reverse its decision concerning the Toledo site.