Automotive News Europe — 2023-11-14
Automotive Industry
Stellantis is beefing up its severance offer to white-collar workers in Italy as it seeks to cut 2,100 jobs in the country by the end of this year.
The packages could be worth up to €200,000, according to sources familiar with the matter. The new offer was first reported by the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, which said employees had received a letter with the offer at the end of October. Stellantis confirmed the letter.
Stellantis is trimming thousands jobs across the company as it pursues the transition to electrification. On Monday, it said it was offering voluntary buyout packages to 6,400 US salaried employees in response to "challenging market conditions." It is also reportedly cutting jobs in France and Germany.
CEO Carlos Tavares has said the automaker must find savings to compensate for the reality that EVs are more costly to build than conventional gasoline models. Stellantis had about 270,000 employees at the end of the 2022 fiscal year, according to company documents.
Offer increased in October
From January 2021, when Stellantis was born from the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, through the end of last year, the group has cut about 7,000 jobs in Italy, mostly by voluntary exits, in part with government incentives for workers close to retirement.
Stellantis now employs about 10,000 white collar workers in Italy, most of whom are at the former Fiat Chrysler headquarters in Turin.
The company signed an agreement with most Italian unions in February to reduce the head count by a further 2,100 units by the end of 2023. A union source told Automotive News Europe that “approximately half” of that number had accepted the offer.
Stellantis then reached another agreement with unions in October, sweetening the cash offer and saying it would rehire workers who had not found another stable job by a certain date.
The new plan includes a cash offer of up to 30 months’ salary, with packages ranging from €50,000 to €200,000 depending on seniority and age.
There will be no forced layoffs. If more than 2,000 employees accept the offer, Stellantis would have to go back to the negotiation table with the unions.
Unions are worried that Stellantis is not investing enough in the electrification of the product range to ensure the future of Italian plants. The automaker plans to increase production at its Melfi plant in southern Italy starting in late 2024. It will also transform its Termoli engine plant into a battery factory that is due to start production in 2026.
Cuts in France, Germany and US
Stellantis’ job cuts do not only affect Italy.
According to news reports in autumn 2022, Stellantis planned to cut 2,600 jobs in France by the end of 2023 through voluntary severance, after 1,380 employees signed voluntary departure agreements in 2021.
Opel said in September 2022 that it was seeking to reduce its head count by about 1,000 jobs in Germany.
In the US, Stellantis said in April that it was seeking to cut about 3,500 hourly-wage jobs with buyouts and retirement incentives. Mark Stewart, COO of the company’s North American unit, cited the need to control costs as Stellantis invests heavily in electric vehicles in a rapidly shifting market.
The new package in the US announced on Monday applies to salaried workers with at least five years’ seniority. It comes as UAW members at Stellantis vote on a tentative labor agreement that provides double-digit raises and calls for $19 bn in manufacturing investments.