United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fine chairs the 2023 Special Election Collective Bargaining Conference in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., March 27, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT – United Auto Workers union president Sean Fine has stepped up his criticism of the Stellantis In a video released Friday, CEO Carlos Tavares accused the CEO of price gouging against consumers and failing to abide by parts of the labor contract between the union and the automaker.
The comments are the latest in a continuing round of skirmishes between the CEO and union leader following contentious collective bargaining talks last year between the United Auto Workers union and Detroit automakers, including Stellantis.
“Something is rotten at Stellantis,” Fine said at the beginning of the 2:30-minute video, which was released Friday. “Sales are down, profits are down, executive pay is skyrocketing. The problem is not the market at GM and Ford. Auto sales are up, and the problem is not the auto workers. The problem is this guy, Carlos Tavares.”
Spokespeople for the union and the automaker did not immediately respond to comment on the allegations or the video.
Many of the criticisms, including those about Tavares’ job cuts and wages, are not new. But Fine’s comments on Friday took the allegations a step further, accusing Tavares of price gouging for consumers in the name of profit. He also alleged that Stellantis is not honoring parts of its labor contract with the company, specifically pointing out that Stellantis has halted plans to reopen an assembly plant in Illinois.
“In fact, over the years, Stellantis has sold fewer cars but made more money. What does that mean? They’re overpricing. Now they’ve gone too far, and they’re causing their sales to fall,” Fine said. “The reality is that Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is trying to back out of the commitments the company made in our last contract, including putting a stop to the reopening of the Belvedere plant.”
Tavares recently criticized Stellantis' United Auto Workers union workforce, citing quality issues at a metro Detroit truck plant that produces the Ram 1500 pickup. The company also announced thousands of layoffs at its U.S. plants amid declining sales and product changes.
“The live run rate of some of our plans starting with SHAP, Sterling Heights, is not good,” Tavares told reporters July 25 while discussing ongoing issues with the company. “That’s something we need to fix with our plant management team and also with our employees.”
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares speaks to the media on June 13, 2024 following the company's investor day at its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Michael Wayland/CNBC
Tavares has been on a cost-cutting mission since the company was formed through a merger between Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA Group in January 2021. It's part of his “Dare Forward 2030” plan to boost profits and double revenues to 300 billion euros ($325 billion) by 2030.
Cost-cutting measures included restructuring the company's supply chain and operations, as well as reducing headcount for both salaried and hourly employees.
Stellantis cut its workforce by 15.5%, or roughly 47,500 employees, between December 2019 and the end of 2023, including a 14.5% reduction in North America, according to public filings. That doesn’t include further staff cuts and layoffs this year.
Earlier, several executives described the cuts to CNBC as excessively onerous, and Tavares last month rejected the idea that the company’s cost-cutting efforts led to its current problems.
