Multinational automaker Stellantis is temporarily laying off about 1,600 auto workers at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant outside Detroit, Michigan, as executives cut production.
Stellantis executives announced the temporary layoffs as they cut production at the Warren plant from two daily shifts down to just one for this month. Though sales of the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer have increased, executives said the temporary layoffs are meant “to align production with sales.”
Auto workers at the Warren plant also produce the Ram 1500 Classic pickup truck.
Similarly, Stellantis executives said they are idling production of the Jeep Gladiator for six weeks from July through August at its Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio. In the second quarter, sales for the Gladiator were down 24 percent year over year.
In a letter to United Auto Workers (UAW) members, though auto workers impacted by Gladiator production idling will be reassigned to help produce the Jeep Wrangler, UAW leadership suggested that some of those workers should expect to be laid off during the first two weeks of the six-week idle.
The latest temporary layoffs and production cuts at Stellantis come after executives carried out multiple rounds of mass layoffs across the United States to shift production to foreign countries, Automotive News reports:
The automaker laid off 199 full-time workers in April at its plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., that builds the Ram 1500. Stellantis also cut 2 percent of its U.S. engineering, technology and software jobs — about 400 people — in March, citing “unprecedented uncertainties and heightened competitive pressures around the world.” [Emphasis added]
The automaker laid off 341 supplemental workers at the Toledo, Ohio, plant that makes the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator, in March. It also let 239 workers go at a Detroit parts sequencing facility near its Jeep Grand Cherokee assembly plants. [Emphasis added]
In May, Breitbart News reported on Stellantis executives’ move to launch its first hydrogen-powered vehicle for the U.S. market. The vehicle, though, will be manufactured at its plant in Saltillo, Mexico.
Last year, records reviewed by The American Prospect showed that Stellantis workers at its Saltillo plant can earn as little as $2.54 an hour.
Amid production cuts and layoffs, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has secured a $39 million compensation package — making him the top-earning auto executive in the U.S. General Motors CEO Mary Barra, with a $27.8 million compensation package, once held that title.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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