UAW President Shawn Fain chairs the Special Election 2023 Collective Bargaining Convention in Detroit, Michigan, USA, March 27, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT – United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain criticized Stellandis CEO Carlos Tavares in a video Friday afternoon, accusing the CEO of raising prices for consumers and failing to honor parts of the union’s labor contract with the automaker.
The comments are the latest in an ongoing exchange between the CEO and the union leader following contentious collective bargaining last year between the UAW and Detroit automakers, including Stellantis.
“Something is rotten in Stellantis,” Fain said to begin the 2:30 minute video posted on friday. “Sales are down, profits are down and CEO pay is way up. The problem isn’t the GM and Ford market, auto sales are up and the problem isn’t the auto workers. The problem is this man, Carlos Tavares.”
Representatives for the union and the automaker did not immediately return calls for comment about the charges or the video.
Several of the criticisms, including those about Tarvares’ job cuts and wages, are not new. But Fain’s comments on Friday took the allegations a step further, accusing Tavares of raising consumer prices in the name of profits. It also alleges that Stellantis is not honoring parts of the company’s employee contract, specifically stating that Stellantis is halting plans to reopen an assembly line in Illinois.
“The fact is, for years, Stellantis has sold fewer cars, but made more profit. What does that tell you? They’re pricing. Now they’ve gone too far and are reducing sales,” Fain said. “In fact, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is trying to go back on the commitments the company made in our last contract, including the brake on reopening the Belvedere assembly.”
Tavares recently criticized the UAW-Stellantis workforce, noting quality problems at a metro Detroit truck plant that makes the Ram 1500 truck. The company has also announced thousands of layoffs at U.S. plants amid declining sales and product changes.
“The pace of immediate execution of some of our plans starting with SHAP, Sterling Heights, is not good,” Tavares told reporters on July 25 while discussing current issues with the company. “This is something we need to fix with our plant management team as well as our people.”
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares speaks to the media on June 13, 2024 after the company’s investor day at its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Michael Weiland / CNBC
Tavares has been on a cost-cutting mission since the company was formed through a merger between Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Groupe in January 2021. It’s part of his “Dare Forward 2030” plan to increase profits and double revenue. to €300 billion ($325 billion) by 2030.
Cost-saving measures included restructuring the company’s supply chain and operations as well as headcount reductions for both salaried and hourly workers.
Stellantis has cut its workforce by 15.5%, or about 47,500 employees, from December 2019 to the end of 2023, including a 14.5% reduction in North America, according to public filings. This does not include further staff reductions and layoffs this year.
Several executives previously described the cuts to CNBC as “detrimental to the point of exaggeration.” Tavares last month pushed back against the idea that the company’s cost-cutting efforts led to its current problems.
