Hot on the heels of UAW members at the ZF plant in Alabama going on strike, Automotive News has just reported GM and Stellantis have begun layoffs at non-striking plants.
Though the UAW strike currently targets Detroit 3 plants building some of the companies’ biggest money makers, those plants aren’t a self-sufficient island, and other plants depend on those plants operations to function. So, here’s a breakdown of where the GM and Stellantis layoffs are happening and why.
GM layoffs
GM is laying off about 2,000 employees at its Fairfax Assembly in Kansas. This plant builds the Chevy Malibu (yes, it still exists) and the Cadilac XT4 – neither of which are the big money makers for GM.
Why this plant? Well, the Wentzville plant, which is striking, makes the decklids for the Malibu. No decklids, no Malibu, no work to be done.
Stellantis layoffs
Similarly, though only the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo was targeted by the UAW strike, there are symbiotic relationships here as well. So, Stellantis is laying off 68 employees at it’s Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, and it expects to lay off 300 employees at the transmission and casting plants in Kokomo, Indiana.
The UAW strike employee tally
The original strike itself affects about 12,700 workers – 5,800 at Stellantis, 3,600 at GM, and 3,300 at Ford. Add that to the 2,368 in layoffs from Stellantis and GM as well as the 190 strikers from the ZF plant, and we’re looking at nearly 16,000 people who aren’t working.
The bottom line
Strikes and the resulting negotiations are messy. Each side has an agenda, and each side is fighting to win. We are only 6 days into the UAW strike, and already the ripples are causing waves. And the UAW has already said if it doesn’t get what it wants by Friday, there are more strikes at more plants to come. Which means these current GM and Stellantis layoffs won’t be the last.
