Rich Boyer was headed to Belvidere, Illinois, on Tuesday, where he planned to meet with UAW members from the Jeep Cherokee plant being idled there.
He said he expected difficult conversations.
“I’m going to look at a group of people who are heartbroken,” said Boyer, who took office in December as one of the union’s three vice presidents and is now leading the Stellantis department. Although Boyer expected to tell the workers he’s sorry about the situation, “people don’t care about sorry, they care about taking care of their communities,” he said.
The people Boyer expected to meet with include second- and third-generation autoworkers at a plant that began producing vehicles in 1965. Local 1268, in a Facebook post, said the plant produced more than 11.7 million vehicles over that 57-year run. Dodges, Plymouths, Chryslers and Jeeps have all been built there.
Boyer was angry about the situation at Belvidere, and he wasn’t pleased with Stellantis, the company that owns the Jeep brand and made the decision. Stellantis announced a $155 million investment related to electric vehicles in Indiana on the same day the Belvidere Assembly Plant was scheduled to idle. Boyer said the union wasn’t told about the Indiana announcement until the day before.
More:Stellantis announces $155M investments for EVs in Indiana, will still idle Belvidere plant
Stellantis, which announced the decision to idle the Belvidere plant in December, has attributed the move to the high cost of the transition to vehicle electrification, although it has not specifically said how that relates to this particular plant. The commitment in Indiana retains 265 jobs; the idling of the Belvidere plant affects 1,219 workers at the plant, not counting jobs that supply the plant and serve those workers.
The Free Press had the chance Tuesday to hear from both Boyer and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares about the situation at Belvidere, Boyer on a phone call as he was driving there and Tavares during a roundtable on a range of topics.
Tavares said the cost of vehicle electrification is 40% more than comparable internal combustion engine technology, and that the push for electric vehicles through regulations is being decided by government officials who are elected by citizens. It’s not a direction chosen by the automakers, he said. Selling at a loss would put the company in jeopardy and passing the added costs on to consumers would make vehicles unaffordable for the middle class, he said.
Tavares called this a “Darwinian period.”
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He said, he said
Here are some other excerpts of what each had to say, condensed and edited for readability and presentation:
Boyer on what the company owes workers: Based on the bailout that the American public did for (Chrysler and General Motors in 2009), I believe that Stellantis owes a product to that facility.
This isn’t just about the fight for the middle class in the auto industry. This is about the fight for the middle class in the U.S.
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If we as Americans don’t stick together, it’s going to be the haves and have nots. What about the kids behind us? To sit back and do nothing is socially irresponsible.
Boyer, who said he has repeatedly tried to meet with Tavares, on what he described as the company’s late notification about Indiana: I think it’s a political ploy to take the focus off Belvidere. My thought is Tavares has a lack of respect for the American autoworker and the UAW.
It’s posturing to make himself look good. He could have made the (Indiana) announcement a long time ago. He could have had Mark Stewart (chief operating officer for North America) call me. If they wanted to do something special, they could have retained the 1,200 jobs in Belvidere.
Tavares on whether there’s any reconsideration of the situation at Belvidere: The plant is idling, which means that we are looking for solutions. Why is it idling? Because we are in the transformation and it’s important that we understand what transformation means. We are not talking about it, we are not planning for it, we are executing the transformation.
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The footprint of our business, the way to do business in the U.S. is going to change because of the direction that has been decided to go zero emission, which we understand is the appropriate decision to protect the planet. It’s a very strong change in the direction of the industry as we all understand.
We understand that it’s very uncomfortable for our people in Belvidere. We are not trying to get from Belvidere any specific concession. This is a global issue, not a Belvidere issue. We are not trying to put Belvidere in a corner.
Tavares on how workers should consider the impact of high executive compensation, returns for shareholders and company profits in thinking about Belvidere: They should think about it on a pure sustainability standpoint. What we are doing right now is preparing the company for the future. What we are doing right now is to make sure future generations working at our companies won’t have to bear the crisis.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.