Stellantis cuts 400 more jobs, this time at Detroit logistics facility

Posted by Admin November 8, 2024 Jobs

Nora Eckert
| Reuters

Stellantis added to its rising tally of layoffs on Friday, saying 400 workers at a Detroit logistics facility would indefinitely lose their jobs as the carmaker reduces costs in its struggling North American business.

“As Stellantis navigates a transitional year, the focus is on realigning its U.S. operations to ensure a strong start to 2025,” the company said in a statement. The statement said the company “will transition the Freud Street sequencing facility to a third-party service provider.” The materials logistics facility supports Mack and Jefferson assembly plants.

The automaker on Wednesday laid off about 1,100 employees at a Jeep Gladiator plant in Ohio, and in August cut as many as 2,450 unionized jobs at its Warren Truck facility as it ended production of the Ram 1500 Classic truck.

Stellantis’ emphasis on cost-cutting has intensified as CEO Carlos Tavares tries to reverse its sliding sales and profits in the U.S.

Tavares recently shook up his top management, and the company announced he would retire after his contract ends in early 2026. Stellantis’ stock is down about 41% this year.

While the company has reduced its salaried workforce through voluntary buyouts, job cuts among its manufacturing employees represented by the United Auto Workers union have gathered the most attention from politicians.

Andrew Feldman from Feldman Strategies provided this comment, which was listed as attributable to the UAW (for both the Toledo layoffs announced the other day and the one announced today):

In a statement, the UAW said, “These layoffs are the direct result of short-sighted management decisions at Stellantis, not market conditions. Ford and GM aren’t facing these issues. Stellantis has showered its shareholders with over $8 billion this year, yet claims it can’t invest in Toledo and Detroit? It’s unacceptable. Our members are ready to build Jeeps, but management’s missteps are standing in their way. We are prepared to use every tool in our arsenal to fight back.”

President-elect Donald Trump recently warned that he would place a 100% tariff on Stellantis if the automaker tried moving U.S. jobs to Mexico.