UAW forces Stellantis to keep promises, wins back thousands of jobs

UAW President Shawn Fain talks to Stellantis workers in October 2024. | Cameron Harrison / People's World

DETROIT—After months of campaigns, rallies, grievances filed, and strike votes taken, the United Auto Workers have just won back thousands of jobs in a new agreement with Stellantis. The union’s “Keep The Promise” campaign kicked off after the company reneged on a number of key issues that the workers and their union won in their historic 2023 Stand Up Strike.

“This victory is a testament to the power of workers standing together and holding a billion-dollar corporation accountable,” Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, and Kevin Gotkinsky, UAW Stellantis Department Director, said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

Here are just a few of the promises that workers forced the company to keep, along with a few new gains:

• Production of the new generation of the Dodge Durango will be in Detroit and not be moved to Windsor, Ontario.
• The Stellantis plant in Belividere, Ill., a major sticking point for the workers during the 2023 strike, will be reopened by 2027. A new mid-size truck will be added to production there.
• Significant new investment in the company’s Kokomo, Ind., facility. Stellantis workers there will build the GME-T4 EVO engine beginning in 2026—reversing the company’s previous plan to move these jobs out of the country
• Component production at the Toledo, Ohio, Machining Plant will increase.

The solidarity shown by the United Auto Workers membership “forced Carlos Tavares out as CEO of this company, and it’s been a game-changer,” the union said.

Before the holiday season, “Shitcan Carlos,” the moniker given to the much disliked former chief executive, resigned amid a floundering performance and massive anger among the workers. His resignation came on Dec. 14, 2024.

“There’s no doubt that the membership played an important role in forcing him out,” Fain said. “Over the last few months, we showed the company that we will do whatever it takes to protect our jobs and protect our future.”

The UAW made clear to Stellantis that workers will not back down and will continue to fight until they “see job security for every UAW Stellantis facility.”

“There is more work to do in reversing the damage done by Carlos Tavares. We still have thousands of our union sisters and brothers laid off due to the gross mismanagement under Tavares,” the union said.

The layoffs carried out during Tavares’ reign—called “productivity cuts”—resulted in thousands of workers losing their livelihoods, including those at Toledo Assembly, Warren Truck Plant, Sterling Heights Assembly, and various parts plants throughout the Midwest.

“We must remain vigilant and stay organized,” the union said. “Throughout this process, we’ve all learned an important lesson: It takes a fight to keep jobs here in this country. We’ve shown the company, and the nation that we are ready for that fight.”

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CONTRIBUTOR

Cameron Harrison

Cameron Harrison is a trade union activist and organizer for the CPUSA Labor Commission. Based in Detroit, he was a grocery worker and member of UFCW Local 876 where he was a shop steward. He also works as a Labor Education Coordinator for the People Before Profits Education Fund, assisting labor organizations and collectives with education, organizing strategy and tactics, labor journalism, and trade union support.