The United Auto Workers' rift with Stellantis widened Monday as the union filed federal labor charges over possibly moving production of an SUV out of the country.
The union said it filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing Stellantis of illegally refusing to release information about plans to move Dodge Durango production from a Detroit factory to one in Canada.
The union also has filed grievances over the Durango and company delays in reopening a vehicle assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, as well as build a parts distribution center and electric vehicle battery plant there. The UAW has threatened to strike on that issue.
The union says it based the unfair labor practices charge on media reports that the Durango would be moved from the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit.
The company committed to the Belvidere additions as well as Durango production in the union's new contract, reached last fall after a six-week strike, the UAW said.
In a statement, union President Shawn Fain said the contract gives the UAW the right to strike over contractual commitments to build vehicles in the U.S. “Now Stellantis wants to go back on the deal,” he said. “We intend to enforce our contract and to make Stellantis keep the promise.”
Stellantis denied that it's violating the contract and said that like all automakers, it is managing how and when it brings new vehicles into the market in order to be competitive. “We will communicate our plans to the UAW at the appropriate time,” the company said in a statement.
Many union members fear that if the automaker breaks its commitment to restart the Belvidere factory, it won’t keep other promises made in the new United Auto Workers contract, which runs through April of 2028. They worry, in particular, that the automaker could move production to factories in lower-cost Mexico.
Stellantis has said it still intends to reopen Belvidere and also build a battery plant and parts warehouse there, but needs to delay them because of unfavorable market conditions. It did not give dates for the changes. At stake are over 2,700 jobs.
The company agreed to reopen Belvidere Assembly in 2027, with plans to build up to 100,000 electric and gas-powered midsize pickups annually. It also agreed to open the parts hub this year and the battery factory in 2028. In all, the company pledged $18.9 billion of U.S. investments during the contract, which runs until April 2028.
It also agreed to build gas and electric versions of the next generation of Durango at Jefferson North starting in 2026.
The letter said Stellantis and the UAW agree that investment and jobs in North America are “contingent upon plant performance, changes in market conditions, and consumer demand continuing to generate sustainable and profitable (sales) volumes.”
This story has been corrected to change the reason for the union filing an unfair labor practice charge. It was filed over the company's alleged refusal to give the UAW information on a potential move of Dodge Durango production to Canada.
FILE - An entrance to the Stellantis factory in Belvidere. Ill., is shown on July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's weak end to last year appears to be carrying into 2025, and U.S. stock indexes are slipping on Thursday.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% in Thursday afternoon trading and on track to extend the four-day losing streak that dimmed the close of its stellar 2024. The main gauge of Wall Street’s health lost a gain of 0.9% from early in the morning and is heading toward its longest losing streak since April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 223 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, after an early gain of 360 points disappeared. The Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.
Tesla helped drag the market lower after disclosing it delivered fewer vehicles in the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected. The electric-vehicle company’s stock slumped 6.7%.
Tesla was one of the big winners of 2024, particularly after Donald Trump’s Election Day victory raised speculation that Elon Musk’s close relationship with the president-elect could help the company. But critics have been warning that prices across the stock market have run too high, too quickly and are at risk of a pullback.
Consider a measure tracked by Bank of America of how heavily Wall Street analysts are recommending stocks, which recently hit its highest level since early 2022, according to strategist Savita Subramanian. She says the measure has been a reliable contrarian indicator in the past, and it’s only a bit shy of triggering a signal to sell for those who are leery when much of Wall Street herds in the same direction.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, H.B. Fuller sank 7.4% after the seller of adhesives, sealants and other specialty chemical products said it’s recently seen a slowdown in sales to a number of its customer categories.
On the winning side of Wall Street were companies tied to the energy industry after prices rose for crude oil and natural gas.
Constellation Energy jumped 6.2% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after announcing it won more than $1 billion in combined contracts with the U.S. General Services Administration to supply power and perform energy savings and conservation measures.
Some Big Tech stocks also helped limit the market's losses. Nvidia, whose chips are powering the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology, rose 2.1% after following up its nearly 240% surge in 2023 with a better than 170% jump last year.
Some investors and analysts are counting on the AI rush to continue, even though critics say it’s made stock prices too expensive. As the calendar flips to a new year, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives says it’s the ”same tech playbook in year 3 of this tech AI driven bull market,” for example.
Some pages of the playbook do seem to be changing. Investors have ratcheted back expectations for how many cuts to interest rates the Federal Reserve may deliver in 2025, for example.
The economy has held up remarkably well despite the high rates brought by the Fed in recent years to stifle inflation. But inflation has recently appeared to become more resistant to slowing the last bit to the Fed's 2% target, and Trump's pushing for tariffs and other policies have raised worries about potentially more upward pressure on prices.
That pushed the Fed to say recently it will likely deliver fewer of the economy-juicing cuts to interest rates in 2025 than it had earlier thought.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.57%, where it was late Tuesday, after a report said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s the latest signal that the job market remains solid.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell 2.2% in Hong Kong and 2.7% in Shanghai after a survey of factory managers showed Chinese activity expanding at a slower pace in December. New orders, employment and business sentiment weakened.
Upbeat talk by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a New Year’s address did little to raise optimism among investors who are hoping for more aggressive action to support the world’s second-largest economy and boost stock prices.
“We have adopted a full range of policies to make solid gains in pursuing high-quality development. China’s economy has rebounded and is on an upward trajectory,” Xi said in a New Year message, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Stock indexes were mostly higher in Europe, while Japan's market remained closed.
AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown in New York's Financial District on Dec. 31, 2024. American flags flew at half-staff there following the death of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
FILE - A sign outside the New York Stock Exchange marks the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
