Barron’s senior writer Al Root joins ‘Barron’s’ Roundtable’ to discuss the impact of government incentives on electric vehicle sales growth and the UAW strike.
Stellantis is indefinitely laying off more than 1,000 employees at its Jeep assembly plant in Ohio as the automaker significantly reduces its inventory levels to match demand.
Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram, issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices to the respective state and local governments as well as the United Auto Workers union.
The 1,100 layoffs at the Toledo South Assembly Plant will be effective as early as Jan. 5, 2025.
Stellanis said the company is in the midst of a “transitional year” and is focused on “realigning its U.S. operations to ensure a strong start to 2025.”
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Employees assemble components of a Jeep Cherokee on the production line in Toledo, Ohio, on Feb. 28, 2014. (Ty Wright/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)
The company acknowledged that while the layoffs are difficult, they are necessary to give it a “competitive edge and eventually return production to prior levels.”
The 3.64-million-square-foot complex manufactures the Jeep Gladiator, Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Wrangler 4xe. Over more than a decade, the company has significantly invested in the plant to increase production, including a $1.2 billion investment in Toledo’s North plant since 2011. In 2017, the company confirmed that it would invest another $1 billion to retool and modernize Toledo’s South plant.
These investments also involved hiring hundreds of workers and additional shifts to support the increased manufacturing.
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The company noted in its third-quarter earnings report, after seeing a 27% decline in net revenues compared with the same period in 2023, that it was in the midst of North American inventory reductions and that U.S. dealer inventory level was “a focus priority.”
A worker handles a suspension for a 2014 Jeep Cherokee at a plant in Toledo, Ohio. (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)
The company reduced the U.S. dealer inventory level by more than 80,000 units between June and October. Its plan was to reduce inventory by 100,000 units by the end of November, the company said.
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As established under the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement, impacted employees will receive one year of supplemental unemployment benefits in combination with any eligible state unemployment benefitsequaling 74% of their pay.
Following that, the employees will get one year of transition assistance. Health care coverage will continue for two years.