DETROIT — About 1,100 employees at the Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, are dealingwith layoffs early next year as the business takes evenmore actions to cut high stock at dealers.
Stellantis stated Thursday that the Toledo South plant, which makes the Jeep Gladiator midsize pickup truck, will go from 2 everyday shifts to one as early as Jan. 5.
Sales of the Gladiator, the pickup truck variation of the Jeep Wrangler SUV, are down almost 21% so far this year to 36,519, according to Motorintelligence.com.
“These are challenging actions to take, however they are needed to makeitpossiblefor the business to gainback its competitive edge and ultimately return production to prior levels,” Stellantis stated.
A message was left Thursday lookingfor remark from the United Auto Workers union, which represents workers at the Toledo plant.
Under the union agreement with Stellantis, laid-off employees will get extra pay for one year that, when integrated with state joblessness advantages, will equivalent 74% of routine pay. They’ll likewise get health insurancecoverage protection for 2 years, Stellantis stated.
The relocation is the newest action by the business as it hasahardtime with high stock on dealership lots in the U.S. Stellantis’ total sales haveactually been down most of the year in the U.S., and discountrates to counter high stickerlabel costs that came after a bad 2nd quarter didn’t work.
In August, the business cautioned that it might lay off as lotsof as 2,450 of the 3,700 union employees at the picku