Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, poses during a presentation on the Latest York International Auto Show in Manhattan, Latest York, on April 5, 2023.
David Dee Delgado | Reuters
DETROIT — Chrysler parent Stellantis is offering buyouts to roughly half of its U.S. white-collar employees to reduce headcount and cut costs for the automaker’s North American operations.
The voluntary separation packages will likely be offered to 6,400 of its 12,700 nonbargaining unit U.S. employees with five or more years of employment, the corporate said Monday.
The move marks the newest cost-cutting efforts for the U.S. auto industry, as corporations attempt to reduce costs amid economic concerns and billions of dollars in latest investments for emerging technologies resembling electric vehicles. Each General Motors and Ford Motor even have cut salaried workers over the past yr.
“Because the U.S. automotive industry continues to face difficult market conditions, Stellantis is taking the essential structural actions to protect our operations and the Company,” Stellantis said in an emailed statement. “As we prepare for the transition to electric vehicles, Stellantis announced today that it would offer a voluntary separation package to assist those non-represented employees who would really like to separate or retire from the Company to pursue other interests with a good package of advantages.”
A Stellantis spokeswoman declined to comment on how many individuals or total costs the corporate would really like to cut. She also declined to comment on whether involuntary layoffs are planned if not enough employees accept the buyouts.
Stellantis North American Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart informed employees Monday of this system, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Employees may have until Dec. 8 to accept buyout offers, the corporate said.
This marks the second round of salaried buyouts this yr for Stellantis. In April, the corporate prolonged voluntary buyouts to about 33,500 U.S. employees, including 31,000 hourly employees with at the very least one yr of employment and a couple of,500 salaried, nonunion employees who had 15 or more years with the corporate.
The newest buyouts come weeks after the automaker struck a tentative cope with the United Auto Workers union for brand new labor contracts covering its 43,000 unionized workers.
The tentative agreement between Stellantis and the UAW, which must still be ratified by union members, also includes voluntary buyouts.
The UAW has said the voluntary incentive plan for retirement will likely be for $50,000 pretax for a vast number of eligible production and skilled-trade members in 2024 and again in 2026.
The Stellantis spokeswoman said the salaried buyout offers aren’t directly connected to expected increases in U.S. labor costs because of this of the cope with the UAW.
The tentative union agreement includes 25% wage increases, including 11% upon ratification; reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments; additional contributions for retirees; billions in latest investments; and other advantages.
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