Tag Archive for: Stellantis

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UAW President Shawn Fain Holding Facebook Live at 7 p.m. ET on the Fight for Good U.S. Jobs at Stellantis

DETROIT – UAW President Shawn Fain will address the UAW membership on Facebook Live at 7 p.m. ET tonight. He will discuss Stellantis’ refusal to fulfill the product and investment commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 contract and the union’s next steps to ensure the company invests in America.

The media is invited to view the livestream at the UAW’s YouTube Channel or social media accounts. 

The livestream comes one day after the union filed federal labor charges and grievances against Stellantis for violating the 2023 contract, refusing to provide information about its product and investment commitments, and moving Durango production out of the United States.

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UAW Files Federal Labor Charges, Grievances Against Stellantis for Violating Contract, Refusing to Provide Information, and Moving Durango Production Out of America

On Monday, the UAW filed federal unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board for Stellantis’ illegal refusal to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement.

Several UAW locals covering thousands of members have also filed contract grievances over the company’s attempt to move Dodge Durango production out of the United States, in violation of the UAW’s national agreement.

On Tuesday, September 17, at 7pm ET, UAW President Shawn Fain will address the UAW membership on Facebook Live. The media is invited to watch on UAW’s YouTube or social media accounts.

“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,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “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.”

“Stellantis is one of the most profitable auto companies on the planet, and makes its money off of the American market,” said UAW Stellantis Department Director Kevin Gotinsky. “UAW members generate that profit and build the product that keeps this company running. We will take action if necessary to stop Stellantis from violating our contract and abandoning the American worker.”

More than a dozen local unions covering tens of thousands of Stellantis workers have filed grievances against the company’s attempt to back out of their commitment to reopen Belvidere Assembly and other violations of the product & investment commitments secured in the UAW’s Stand Up Strike last year. The filings are the union’s latest push to get Stellantis to Keep The Promise to American autoworkers.

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New UAW Video Marks Anniversary of Historic “Stand Up” Strike Against Big Three Automakers and Significant Victories Since

Today, the UAW released a new video marking the one-year anniversary of one of the most consequential union campaigns in recent history. At midnight on September 15, 2023, thousands of workers walked out at plants at each of the Big Three automakers, launching the historic “Stand Up” strike.

The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.  

“When we went on strike on September 15, the Big Three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union,” narrates UAW President Shawn Fain. “By the end of our Stand Up strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.”

The video highlights the success of the “Stand Up” strike, from ending wage tiers, to winning COLA and significant raises, to security protection from plant closures.

“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance,” Fain continues. “They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers, or a permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.”

The strike also led to the automakers agreeing to fold electric vehicle battery plants into the master agreement. Months later, Ultium workers ratified an industry-setting, first-ever union contract at a battery plant in Lordstown, OH.

 

The video’s full transcript via President Shawn Fain is available below:  

“The best thing we can do for one another is show each other how to be brave, how to be creative, and how to stand up for economic and social justice. That’s what our Stand Up Strike was all about.

“2023 was the first time the UAW President has refused to shake hands with the company CEOs, and instead shook hands with the members. It was the first time we updated our members directly on the company’s proposals throughout negotiations.

“It was our first time using a Stand Up Strike strategy. We ran the longest national contract strike at the Big Three since 1973. This was the first time in UAW history that we hit all three companies at once.

“We had doubters, but we also had champions. We had leaders and we had organizers. And I don’t mean people like me, I mean, you, the workers. The members who really run this union. People who take the word solidarity and make it mean something.

“If you’d have told me 30 years ago we could take on all three of the Big Three at one time, and win more in one contract than we have in decades, and if you told me that the vast majority of American public from my next door neighbors to the President of the United States would stand with us, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.

“When we went on strike on September 15th, the big three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union. By the end of our Stand Up Strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.

“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance. They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers or permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.

“They said you can’t win a commitment to reopen Belvidere. And now of course the company’s trying to say you can’t enforce a contract. So we intend to fight like hell to make this company keep their promise.

“We managed to bring thousands of EV and battery jobs under our national agreements with a pathway for some of the Lordstown GM members to finally return home.

“We won $1.25 billion for current retirees, which is easily a billion more than we’ve won the last four contracts combined.

“And after we won these historic contracts at Ford, GM and Stellantis, nonunion employers were tripping over themselves to hand out raises in an obvious attempt to discourage employees from organizing. We called those raises the UAW Bump.

“This movement won a historic victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where workers overwhelmingly voted to unionize. 73%, that’s not just a victory, that’s a blowout.

“But I also want to make sure we remember we won something else too. We won back our dignity as auto workers. What we won in these agreements is a new muscle, a new chapter in the story of the UAW. Ordinary people did extraordinary things. Our solidarity is our strength. Our strength is the hope of working-class people everywhere. For ourselves, for our families, for our communities, for our country, and for our future.”

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UAW Members to Rally Outside Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, Call On Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to Keep The Promise

On Friday, August 23rd, UAW members will rally outside Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) to call on Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to honor the union contract and Keep The Promise to maintain product and investment commitments in Belvidere, Illinois and across the country.

Tavares is set to visit SHAP on Friday and has refused to meet with local union leadership.

“We want to make sure Carlos Tavares is listening to the people who make the product that makes this company run,” said UAW Local 1700 President Mike Spencer. “We intend to enforce our national agreement so that this company keeps its commitments, and we intend to make our voices heard.”

WHAT: Rally to Make Stellantis Keep The Promise
WHERE: West side of Van Dyke Avenue, south of 16 ½ Mile Road, Sterling Heights, Michigan
WHEN: Friday, August 23rd, 1-2:30pm

**UAW members are participating in an informational rally to demand Stellantis keep the promise made to autoworkers. We will not be picketing or striking, this is not a work stoppage.  Attendees will not block traffic or driveways. Workers must work their shifts as scheduled.**

On Monday, UAW locals representing tens of thousands of Stellantis workers filed grievances with the company over their failure to Keep the Promise made in contract negotiations in 2023. Once the grievance procedure is exhausted under the national contract, the union may authorize a strike.

For more information on the fight to make Stellantis Keep The Promise, visit UAW.org/KeepThePromise.

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UAW Members and Leaders to Rally in Belvidere, Illinois to Call on Stellantis to Keep the Promise

Belvidere, IL – On Thursday, August 22nd, UAW members and leaders, including UAW President Shawn Fain, Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell, and Local 1268 President Matt Frantzen, will rally in Belvidere, Illinois to call on Stellantis to keep the commitment the company made to reopen Belvidere Assembly and invest in thousands of jobs in that community. 

On Monday, UAW locals representing tens of thousands of Stellantis workers filed grievances with the company over their failure to Keep the Promise made in contract negotiations in 2023. Once the grievance procedure is exhausted under the national contract, the union may authorize a strike. 

“This isn’t just a local fight or just a union fight,” said UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell. “This is a fight for the dignity of work in America. Union or not, from Belvidere or not. If we don’t Stand Up now, when will we? If we don’t Stand Up to protect American jobs, what will we stand for?” 

“The victories we won last year in our Stand Up Strike at the Big Three weren’t suggestions, they were binding commitments in a union contract, and we as the UAW intend to enforce that contract to the fullest extent,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. 

“I find a pathetic irony in the fact that Stellantis is now, for the first time, citing ‘market conditions’ as their reason for attempting to break their promises to Belvidere and autoworkers across America. It’s always ‘market conditions’ when they have to stiff an autoworker or close a plant. It’s never ‘market conditions’ when they want to raise CEO pay by 56%. Carlos Tavares is telling the American autoworker, ‘Market conditions for thee, but not for me.’” 

“They say they want to ‘delay’ reopening Belvidere Assembly but they really want to kick the can past our contract expiration so they can suddenly cite ‘market conditions’ again and never open this plant, never repair the damage they’ve done to thousands of autoworkers and their families. And it’s not just Belvidere. If they go back on this, what else will they go back on? As the company attacks us with layoffs during the most profitable times, what jobs will those workers have left to transfer into? This company made a commitment, on a timeline, to invest in the American autoworker and invest in Belvidere, and that’s why we’re ready to take action to make sure Stellantis keeps the promise.” 

For more information on the fight to make Stellantis Keep the Promise, visit UAW.org/KeepThePromise. 

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UAW Stellantis Locals Prepare Grievances Over Company’s Failure to Keep Product Commitments, Paving Way for Strike Action, if Necessary

Several UAW locals representing tens of thousands of workers under the national UAW Stellantis agreement are prepared to file grievances over the company’s failure to keep its investment commitments and honor the union contract, paving the way for a national strike at Stellantis, if necessary. 

For more information, visit UAW.org/KeepThePromise.

“This company made a commitment to autoworkers at Stellantis in our union contract, and we intend to enforce that contract to the full extent,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “On behalf of autoworkers everywhere, we’re standing up against a company that wants to go back on its commitments and drive a race to the bottom at the expense of the American worker.” 

In the 2023 UAW Stellantis agreement, the union won the right to strike over product and investment commitments, and a historic commitment to reopen Belvidere Assembly, which was indefinitely idled in early 2023. Since ratification, the company has gone back on its product commitments at Belvidere, and has been unreceptive in talks with the union to stay on track. 

Aside from the impact on Belvidere, this glaring violation of the contract imperils all of the other investment commitments the company has made, and also impacts Stellantis members nationally, as they will not have those jobs for transfer opportunities in the event of layoffs. 

Under the UAW Stellantis contract, once an issue has been taken through the grievance procedure, the union may authorize a strike over the grievance. UAW Stellantis members are prepared to take action if necessary. 

Some of the largest locals that may file these grievances include UAW Local 12 (Toledo Assembly, Toledo, OH); Local 140 (Warren Truck, Warren, MI); Local 1700 (Sterling Heights Assembly, Sterling Heights, MI); Local 7 (Detroit Assembly Complex – Jefferson, Detroit, MI); Local 51 (Detroit Assembly Complex – Mack, Detroit, MI); Local 685 (Kokomo Transmission, Kokomo, IN); and Local 1166 (Kokomo Casting, Kokomo, IN). Any local covered under the national UAW Stellantis agreement may file these grievances at any time. 

The language of the grievance filed is as follows:

“The Company has informed the Union that it will not launch the Belvidere Consolidated Mopar Mega Hub in 2024, it will not begin stamping operations for the Belvidere Mega Hub in 2025 and it will not begin production of a midsize truck in Belvidere in 2027.  The Company’s failure to plan for, fund and launch these programs constitute a violation of the U.S. Investment letter in the P&M and OC&E Collective Bargaining Agreements.  During 2023 National Negotiations the parties agreed to the investment plan for Belvidere to address job security concerns impacting bargaining unit members throughout the entire system.  The Company’s failure to honor its commitments in the U.S. Investment letter is a serious concern to all bargaining unit members. 

Demand:  The Union demands that the Company rescind its decision to push back the above-referenced launches and immediately plan for and fund the Belvidere investments in order to comply with the agreed upon timeline for launching the Belvidere Mega Hub (2024), the Belvidere Stamping operation (2025) and Belvidere midsize truck production (2027).” 

For more information, visit UAW.org/KeepThePromise.

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“Something is Rotten at Stellantis”: In New Video, UAW Sounds the Alarm on Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares 

In a new video, the UAW is raising the alarm on mismanagement at Stellantis, where sales and profits are down, while CEO pay is skyrocketing.

Nine months into a new contract with the UAW, Stellantis has failed to uphold key parts of its agreement, and has instead focused on all the wrong things, hurting consumers, dealers, white collar employees, and autoworkers.

The problem isn’t the auto market. GM and Ford are doing fine, while Stellantis’ profits and sales have tanked. Meanwhile, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has given himself a 56 percent raise, making him the highest paid traditional OEM CEO in the world.

“If any autoworker did as piss-poor of a job as Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, they’d be fired,” says UAW President Shawn Fain. “The truth is, Stellantis doesn’t want to invest in America.” “Stellantis is in a race to the bottom, driving up prices while cutting staff so overseas executives like Carlos Tavares can have a bigger payday. America invested in Stellantis. Workers have invested in Stellantis. And consumers have invested in Stellantis.”

“It’s time to put an end to corporate greed at Stellantis. It’s time for Stellantis to invest in us. It’s time for a change, and that starts with the man at the top.”

The video is available here, and the media is invited to use the footage.

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UAW Local 869 Votes to Authorize Strike at Stellantis’ Warren Stamping Plant

Over 1,000 members of UAW Local 869 who work at the Stellantis Warren Stamping Plant in Warren, Mich., have voted to authorize a strike over the company’s refusal to address health & safety grievances at the facility.

In a new video, Stellantis workers at Local 869 speak out about health & safety issues in the plant.

“We must stand up and stand together for this health and safety grievance procedure because this is our livelihood,” said Local 869 member Chautay Smith. “So, let’s stand up at Warren Stamping and take care of us the way we need to be taken care of.”

Workers at the plant are facing a wide range of unresolved issues, including problems with ventilation fans, ergo matting, personal protective equipment (PPE), flooding, basement lighting & flooring, restrooms, oil leaks, overall sanitation, and more.

“Not only do we want these health and safety grievances resolved, we want our members to leave the same way they came,” UAW Local 869 President Romaine McKinney III said. “We want members to understand they’re not just a number or just a body on the line. They will come to work and feel like they have some ownership in that building.”

Warren Stamping supplies over half a dozen Stellantis plants, from Windsor, Ontario to Saltillo, Mexico, and any work stoppage could particularly impact production of the Dodge RAM, Jeep Wrangler, and Jeep Wagoneer.

Stellantis made nearly $20 billion in profits last year, and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was compensated over $37 million in 2023.

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Over 1,000 UAW Members at Stellantis’ Warren Stamping Plant to Take Strike Authorization Vote Over Health & Safety Grievances

Around 1,100 members of UAW Local 869 at Stellantis’ Warren Stamping Plant in Warren, Mich., will take a strike authorization vote on Monday, May 6th, after Stellantis’ failure to resolve health & safety grievances in the plant. On Monday, members will vote on whether to authorize strike action against Stellantis at the plant, over health & safety and outside contractor grievances that the company has failed to resolve. 

“We’re standing up for health & safety at Warren Stamping,” said UAW Local 869 President Romaine McKinney III. “When it rains, the facility floods because the ceiling is leaking. We have to fight for every single pair of work gloves, while we handle metal and materials to build world class vehicles for Stellantis. The list goes on, and we’re putting an end to it. Our union grievance procedure gives us the power to stand up for safety on the job, and we intend to take action if necessary.” 

Workers at the plant are facing a wide range of issues, including problems with ventilation fans, ergo matting, personal protective equipment (PPE), flooding, basement lighting & flooring, restrooms, oil leaks, overall sanitation, and more. 

Warren Stamping supplies over half a dozen Stellantis plants, from Windsor, Ontario to Saltillo, Mexico, and any work stoppage could particularly impact production of the Dodge RAM, Jeep Wrangler, and Jeep Wagoneer. 

Local 869 voted on April 2nd to authorize a strike over local contract issues, with Monday’s vote to address a strike authorization over grievance issues. 

Stellantis made nearly $20 billion in profits last year, and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was given a 56% raise. 

Reflecting on the Big Three Contract Campaign

When most of us think about organizing, we often think of going into non-union shops and organizing workers to join the UAW. While that is true, it can also mean organizing our existing union members, and getting them active in our collective fight. For Big Three workers and members of Local 230 going into bargaining this year, we knew that we needed a significant wage increase, a cost-of-living allowance (COLA), the end to an abusive tiered wage system, and the end of the abusive system that kept supplemental employees (temporary workers) working on a temporary status with no real rights and no hire date in sight.


Our contract campaign was huge in the months and weeks leading up to the strike. At the national level, UAW President Shawn Fain & his team were great at keeping members up to date through Facebook Live and news outlets. At the local level, we were hard at work building unity and coordination. Some of the ways we showed solidarity included what we called a Red-Out – wearing only red shirts in solidarity. Another way was organizing members to not work any voluntary overtime in the days leading up to Local 230 being called on to walk off the job. Both of these methods showed management that we were no longer divided and that we weren’t going down without a fight.


On September 15 at 12:00 am, the Big Three walked off the job. The following week, all the PDCs across Stellantis and GM were called to walk off their jobs, and thus, Local 230 was out on strike, along with Locals 6645, 2162, and 492. Our Local 230 President Jesse Ramirez walked out side by side with approximately 55 first shift Local 230 members. Our message was clear: “No deals, No wheels.”


In the following weeks, we organized rallies on the picket lines. These rallies were key for keeping members’ morale up, building a strong sense of camaraderie, and relieving the stress of the strike. In addition to social media and local news coverage, the rallies were extremely sharp tools used to gain public support and to keep our fight and demands as pervasive as possible. Many supporters came out and walked the line, including Teamsters, SAG-AFTRA, Carpenters Union, Machinist Union, as well as State Senators, Assembly Members, and members of the United States Congress.


Our efforts would soon pay off: On October 28th the strike was declared over, and members returned to work the following Monday. The contract was ratified on November 20th, 2023. Workers emerged victorious knowing we, the UAW, had won.



Joel Benefield is a member of UAW Local 230 in Ontario, CA. The local represents workers at the Stellantis Parts Distribution Center in Los Angeles.

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