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Future Ram Pickup: UAW Grievance, STLA Response
Feb 4, 2025
Diving into the UAW’s grievance over delays to a Ram pickup, Stellantis’ response, and where we go from here #uaw #union #mopar #ram #belvidere
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0:00
hi there it's me again Dave from motels
0:03
and stal power and I'm here to talk
0:05
about the UAW and whether or not it can
0:08
strike over delays to the new midsize
0:11
pickup truck and delays to the parts Hub
0:13
in badier so beler was supposed to get
0:17
some expansions and serve as both a
0:19
Parts Warehouse or Hub and or
0:22
Distribution Center uh when I worked at
0:25
Pathmark they'd slap you if you use the
0:27
word Warehouse it was a distribution
0:29
center we don't store stuff here we ship
0:31
it out with the midsize pickup
0:33
apparently now either on hold or on
0:35
development delay it's going to take a
0:38
bit longer before that plant gets put
0:40
back into use they were already talking
0:42
2027 now they're talking 2028 and Beyond
0:45
and that's bad partly because the Union
0:47
contract expires in
0:49
2028 so this might from the union
0:52
perspective I can see them saying hey
0:54
this is probably just a ploy so that
0:57
they can either shut down the plant
0:59
after all
1:00
because it won't be covered after 2028
1:02
in Union
1:04
negotiations or to say well we'll keep
1:08
that plant open but say goodbye to fill
1:10
in the blank here so the union statement
1:13
is that they won the right to strike
1:14
over product and investment commitments
1:17
and a star commitment to reopen beler
1:20
assembly which you will recall was idled
1:22
in 2023 when they stopped making the old
1:24
Cherokee they're going to make a new km
1:26
Cherokee to replace the KL Cherokee but
1:29
not until next year and not in beler it
1:32
shares with the wagon airs so I would
1:34
expect it to come out of TCA Mexico so a
1:37
number of UAW locals have already fired
1:40
filed a grievance and I'm going to read
1:41
it here company has informed the union
1:43
that it will not launch the bovier
1:46
Consolidated Mopar Mega Hub in 2024
1:48
how's that for name will not begin
1:51
stamping for the Mega Hub in 20125 and
1:54
will not start making a midsize truck in
1:57
beler in
1:58
2027 uh dot dot this is uh a violation
2:03
of the investment letter and the
2:06
bargaining
2:07
agreements and then they have the demand
2:10
which is that it resend the decision to
2:11
push all this stuff back so I'm
2:14
shortening a lot of legal terms which
2:16
you can read online we have them in the
2:19
stalp power.com article which I'll link
2:21
at the end of this video but it uh but
2:24
stellantis obviously and as you would
2:26
guess disagrees and stellantis is
2:28
disagreement says that it's critical
2:31
that uh Investments are aligned with
2:33
market conditions and their
2:35
ability uh well really they are saying
2:38
that they have to keep production in
2:40
line with the market okay that makes
2:42
sense therefore it confirms it told in
2:45
UAW that plans for badier will be
2:47
delayed but it firmly stands by its
2:49
commitment so what they're saying here
2:52
is that they will have the truck it's
2:53
just delayed and we're not just going to
2:56
use it as a negotiating Ploy uh and the
2:58
company is committed to engaging with
3:00
Union on a productive respectful and
3:02
forward-looking
3:03
dialogue the company has not violated
3:05
the commitments made in the investment
3:07
letter and strongly objects to the
3:08
Union's accusations in fact the UAW
3:11
agreed to language that expressly allows
3:13
the company to modify product
3:15
Investments at employment levels
3:17
therefore the union cannot legally
3:19
strike at this time uh I'm cutting a few
3:22
words out of that but you get the idea
3:25
so really it's a question of did the
3:27
Union sign away some of their rights
3:30
when they agreed to this contract or is
3:33
the reopening of the plant
3:36
non-negotiable that's really the big
3:38
question I don't have an
3:40
answer apparently if you go by the union
3:43
and Company statements there are some
3:45
conflict so the question is whether
3:47
somebody who is a a labor lawyer will
3:50
jump in and give us their opinion or
3:53
more likely eventually a judge or the
3:55
National Labor Relations Board will pop
3:57
in with their opinion it does seem as
4:00
though putting off that midsize truck
4:02
past 2027 that seems like an awfully
4:04
long time admittedly it's probably a
4:06
little slower to make things with all
4:08
those layoffs coming in Auburn Hills and
4:12
there's a chance that what they're
4:14
thinking about is holding on the truck
4:16
holding off production of the truck
4:18
until the battery electric version can
4:19
use that new solid state technology or
4:22
the other battery chemistries that
4:24
stantis has a share in developing or a
4:28
share in the companies that are
4:29
developing
4:30
which would give it a much better range
4:32
and much better weight and possibly a
4:34
much lower price and this would all be
4:36
great for the pickup assuming that it's
4:39
only going to be battery electric or
4:40
that the battery electric must come
4:42
first before gasoline version and it's
4:45
possible that if they weren't
4:46
considering a gasoline version and now
4:48
they are that would also account for the
4:49
delay so there's good reasons for this
4:52
to be an honest issue on stan' side but
4:56
on the other hand I'm sure that you can
4:58
see the reasons why the would be
5:00
concerned I'll see you soon I hope
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