Stellantis blames California's emissions regulations for impending layoffs

Stellantis, one of the Big Three automobile manufacturers, recently announced massive impending layoffs and pointed blame, in part, at California, Fox Business reported.

The Jeep parent company stated that 2,455 employees who work at the Detroit Assembly Complex, where the Jeep Grand Cherokee is produced, may be impacted. Approximately 1,225 workers at its Toledo Assembly Complex, where the Wrangler and the Gladiator are produced, may also be impacted. Most of the workers at the Toledo facility are supplemental employees, the company noted.

"The Detroit Assembly Complex – Mack plant will temporarily move from a three shift to a two-shift operating pattern. The two-shift operation also will allow the Mack team to focus its attention on improving the operational performance and throughput at the plant in the event that a change in the regulations or marketplace allows for an increase in volume," a company news release stated, according to the Detroit Free Press. "The Toledo Assembly Complex will move from an alternative work schedule to a traditional two-shift operating pattern as agreed upon during 2023 [United Auto Workers] negotiations."

Jodi Tinson, a spokesperson for the automaker, told the news outlet that layoffs at the Detroit facility "will definitely be lower" and layoffs at the Toledo location "could be a little bit lower." She noted that the recently signed UAW contract prompted Stellantis to account for every possible impacted employee. "Out of an abundance of caution," Stellantis filed Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letters to alert workers of the upcoming layoffs.

The workers' union launched a strike against the Big Three in September after contract negotiations fell through. Less than one month ago, the UAW and Stellantis reached a new agreement, which included wage increases and the return of cost-of-living adjustments, that workers hailed as a win.

UAW Local 12 told WTOL that the new contract guaranteed that 900 Toledo Assembly Complex workers would be moved to full-time employment.

Bruce Baumhower, president of the UAW Local 12, stated that the union will do what it can to prevent the layoffs.

"[W]e're going to put pressure on the company. We've talked to them about it, even today, and said, 'We want you to offer layoffs to senior people who might enjoy taking the summer off and let these new hires begin their careers as full-time employees.' That's our position, and we're not moving from it," Baumhower stated.

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said he "anticipated there would be changes at the Jeep plant following the recent contract negotiations."

"We continue to be optimistic about the future of the Jeep plant and other economic development projects in the pipeline," Kapszukiewicz noted.

According to the automaker, the layoffs are partly due to "the need to manage sales of the vehicles they produce to comply with California emissions regulations that are measured on a state-by-state basis."

On Wednesday, Stellantis filed a petition to California's Office of Administrative Law, accusing the California Air Resources Board of participating in an "underground regulatory scheme" that the automobile manufacturer claims puts it at a competitive disadvantage to its rivals.

"The California Framework Agreement was developed secretly with some competitors, in direct violation of the California Administrative Procedure Act. We are taking this action to relieve Stellantis of the competitive disadvantages arising from our continuing exclusion and to preserve our ability to best serve our customers by fairly allocating our products to all states," the company wrote in a Wednesday statement.

Stellantis noted that it "strongly" supports reducing emissions.

"However, our ability to achieve this vision is severely threatened by the current double standard, which also destabilizes our production schedules, the livelihoods of our 56,000 U.S. employees, and the thousands of spinoff jobs generated by our operations," it added.

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