Statement from UAW President Shawn Fain on Stellantis-Samsung SDI Leasing Agreement and Carlos Tavares Resignation

We are excited to announce that Stellantis has finalized their employee leasing agreement at their joint venture battery plant with Samsung SDI. This means over 1,000 new jobs for UAW members in Kokomo, at a time when Stellantis is trying to cut its way out of its own mismanagement. 

We won this leasing agreement in our 2023 contract negotiations, but under the failed leadership of Carlos Tavares, the company delayed making good on their commitment to workers in Kokomo. This pattern of going back on agreements and violating our contract was part of what led us to call for Tavares’s resignation. 

We look forward to continuing this progress in honoring our contract with new Stellantis leadership that respects hardworking UAW members and is ready to keep its promise to America by investing in the people who build its products.  

Tavares’ resignation is a major step in the right direction for a company that has been mismanaged and a workforce that has been mistreated for too long. Tavares is leaving behind a mess of painful layoffs and overpriced vehicles sitting on dealership lots. For weeks, thousands of UAW members at Stellantis have been calling for the company to fire Tavares due to his reckless mismanagement of the company. We are pleased to see the company responding to pressure and correcting course. 

We will keep using all means available to hold Stellantis accountable and enforce the contract we won in 2023, including advancing strikeable grievances until Stellantis keeps its investment commitments to workers in Belvidere,  Michigan, and beyond. We are looking forward to sitting down with the new CEO, backed up by thousands of UAW Stellantis members ready to take action, and discussing their plan to keep making world-class vehicles here in the United States. 

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