Stellantis offers buyouts to UAW employees at more than 20 sites in Detroit and Toledo

• The Stellantis voluntary buyout offer comes as the automotive industry deals with potential headwinds.
• It's not clear how many employees will be allowed to take the deal.

Stellantis is offering voluntary buyouts to hourly UAW employees at more than 20 Detroit and Toledo area manufacturing facilities and Mopar locations.

The locations include Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, Warren Truck, Detroit Assembly Complex, Toledo Assembly Complex, Chelsea Proving Grounds and CTC facilities.

The automaker, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands, is offering lump sum payments for employees with at least one year of service, according to a copy of the offer letter obtained Thursday by the Free Press.

Payments range from $50,000 for workers with at least one year of seniority but less than 15 years to $72,000 for workers with 25 years or more seniority. The offer also includes six months of medical benefits, excluding dental.

The offer, which is active from March 24 to May 8, stipulates that management will choose who can take the buyout. Some employees will be able to leave immediately, following a seven-day revocation period, but others might remain until Sept. 30.

It wasn't clear how many workers the company might be targeting.

Stellantis spokeswoman Ann Marie Fortunate on Friday provided a statement from the company:

"Stellantis continues to review its operations to improve efficiency and protect its competitiveness in a very dynamic market. To help in that effort, the company announced that it is offering voluntary termination of employment and retirement incentive packages to represented production employees at its manufacturing and Mopar facilities in Detroit and Toledo as well as production, skilled and salaried bargaining unit employees at its facilities in Illinois. Eligible represented employees have until May 8 to decide."

Stellantis had faced criticism for rounds of job cuts last year at its U.S. facilities, and the automaker had a challenging 2024, dealing with issues ranging from lower sales to high inventories. It also saw the exit of former CEO Carlos Tavares and is searching for a new CEO. More recently, the narrative around the company had been more positive as it adjusted its vehicle pricing, became more assertive with its marketing and lowered its inventories.

However, the threat of tariffs and uncertainty in the market is raising a host of new challenges and potential headwinds for Stellantis and the rest of the automotive industry.

In a statement provided by the UAW on Friday, Stellantis Department Director Kevin Gotinsky blamed the situation that has led to the buyouts on "the mess left behind" by Tavares.

"His gross mismanagement created a crisis, and we’re still trying to recover. Thousands of our members were laid off, and it’s been a long road just getting to this point," Gotinsky said.

Gotinsky also noted the work that led to the current offer.

"We negotiated a package with the company’s new leadership team that gives workers as many options as possible. For those ready to retire, there’s a clear path. For others, voluntary termination is now on the table. With the opening of the VTEP, we made sure the company was responsive to our members' needs. Most of this year has been spent fighting to get here — and we’re not done yet," Gotinsky said, referencing the abbreviation for the Voluntary Termination of Employment Program.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.