In addition to temporarily terminating 900 employees in the Midwest, Jeep manufacturer Stellantis is halting production at facilities in Canada and Mexico.
Production at Stellantis’ Windsor Assembly Plant will be suspended for weeks starting on April 7 and will resume the week of April 21. 4,500 represented Windsor employees will be impacted by the decision.
James Stewart, the president of Unifor Local 444, wrote on social media on Wednesday night, “While we had heard rumors of potential downtime, the company said there are multiple factors at play, with the primary driver behind the final decision being this afternoon’s announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump of the U.S. tariffs.”
Additionally, the carmaker has temporarily halted operations at its assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico, for the month of April.
On April 7, the plant’s manufacturing will halt.
900 employees are being let go as a result of the delay at the company’s Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo Transmission Plant, Kokomo Casting Plant, and Warren Stamping and Sterling Stamping facilities in Michigan.
Stellantis’ Chief Operating Officer for the Americas, Antonio Filosa, wrote to staff members Thursday morning to inform them that the company is still evaluating how tariffs may affect its business.
“We are continuing to assess the medium- and long-term effects of these tariffs on our operations, but also have decided to take some immediate actions, including temporarily pausing production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants. Those actions will impact some employees at several of our U.S. powertrain and stamping facilities that support those operations,” Filosa stated.
Stellantis admits that “the current environment creates uncertainty,” according to Filosa. “Be assured that we are very engaged with all of our key stakeholders, including top government leaders, unions, suppliers and dealers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as we work to manage and adapt to these changes. We are focused on taking responsible actions that are in the best interests of our customers, our business partners and you, our employees – wherever you work.”
UAW President Shawn Fain stated in response to the layoffs, “Stellantis continues to play games with workers’ lives. As we’ve shown time and again, they’ve got the money, the capacity, the product, and the workforce to employ thousands more UAW members in Michigan, Indiana, and beyond. These layoffs are a completely unnecessary choice that the company is making. It’s more of the same, and everything that’s wrong with our broken trade system. Companies like Stellantis use workers as collateral damage to pay the price for management’s poor decisions, and it’s unacceptable.”
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