((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Added Stellantis comments, company and industry context, paragraphs 3-10) by David Shepardson
Chrysler’s parent company, Stellantis
STLAM.MI , announced Friday that it will lay off about 400 U.S. employees as part of its efforts to cut costs, improve efficiency and accelerate production plans for electric vehicles.
The Italian-American automaker said it is reducing its engineering/technology and software organizations by about 400 jobs in the United States effective March 31, representing 2% of those jobs worldwide. Last year, Stellantis twice offered buyouts to groups of American workers, including offering 6,400 American employees a financial incentive to leave in November.
The company said: “As the automotive industry continues to face unprecedented uncertainties and increased competitive pressures around the world, Stellantis continues to make appropriate structural decisions across the business to improve efficiency and optimize our cost structure”
Ford Motor FN and General Motors GM.N have both promised to further cut costs and cut jobs over the past year.
Earlier this month, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Stellantis had laid off 2,000 temporary workers, criticizing the decision as “a matter of corporate greed.” He noted that in Under the UAW’s contract with Stellantis, approximately 3,000 temporary workers were converted to permanent jobs.
In December, Stellantis said it would temporarily cut a shift at its Detroit assembly plant, which makes Jeep sport utility vehicles, and reduce production at its Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant. , which makes the Jeep Wrangler.
Last year, Stellantis cited preparations for the transition to electric vehicles to propose company buyouts, after telling employees that a review of the company’s operations had clearly shown that we needed to become more efficient
Stellantis plans to offer at least 25 battery electric vehicle models in the United States by 2030.
The company has not revealed how many employees have offered to accept buyouts, but it said in February that its North American workforce had fallen to 81,341 at the end of 2023, from 88,835 a year earlier.
As part of the contract with the UAW, the company agreed to offer $50,000 buyouts to manufacturing veterans and skilled trades members in 2024 and 2026.