Jeep workers mull options as Belvidere plant goes idle

BELVIDERE, Ill. — The holiday season was in full swing when Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker made a stop at the UAW Local 1268 hall here in mid-December to meet with union officials. The agenda was anything but cheerful.

Stellantis had announced the week before, on Dec. 9, that it was idling its Belvidere Assembly Plant, production site of the Jeep Cherokee, at the end of February. The factory, one of the region's economic pillars that has served as a lifeline for generations of workers since opening in 1965, has been on shaky footing in recent years with frequent downtime and layoffs.

Now Belvidere is in limbo amid an industrywide transition to electric vehicles that Illinois is looking to capitalize on. In December, Pritzker signed an amendment to the Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act that expanded the tax incentives available for automakers to retool plants for EV production. The REV Illinois Act, which became law in November 2021, aims to help the state reach its goal of having 1 million EVs on the road by 2030.

Union representatives at the Pritzker meeting said the governor, who had been angling for Stellantis to assign an electric vehicle to Belvidere for the past year, was surprised by the decision to idle the plant and had thought discussions were going well. UAW Local 1268 President Kevin Logan said Pritzker thought the state was close to landing an EV before a Dec. 9 call with Stellantis where the automaker dropped the news that the factory's remaining 1,150 or so workers would be laid off.

The state's efforts to secure another product continue ahead of the automaker's contract negotiations with the UAW later this year when commitments to investments are often made. Stellantis COO Mark Stewart had indicated days after the announcement that the Belvidere plant could still have a future. Stewart told reporters the company is "continuing to look at what we can do to repurpose that facility" and emphasized that it will be idled, not closed.

Even if the plant does land a new product in the months ahead, the waiting game leaves workers in a bind. Although Stellantis intends to help displaced workers find other positions within the company, those who do will have to uproot their lives.

Logan sees the move to idle as a negotiating tactic. He was shocked to see operations halted because the company had previously indicated that production would continue through June.

The state has "since come back to the corporation with another incentive," he told Automotive News. "I've heard it's an astronomical amount of money. I'd be shocked if they turned it down. But I think at the end of the day, if they don't accept it, in my mind, that tells me they don't want to do business in Illinois. I believe the company is going to use this for leverage to try to get something at contract time."

Stellantis declined to comment on negotiations with the state, but cited a number of factors behind the decision, including the COVID-19 pandemic, global microchip shortage and costs related to developing and building EVs. The governor's office didn't respond to inquiries from Automotive News.

Stellantis is in the midst of an ambitious schedule to launch more than 75 battery-electric vehicles globally by 2030 and develop a supply chain to support them. The automaker is building joint-venture EV battery plants in Kokomo, Ind., and Windsor, Ont. Stewart said Stellantis will need four battery plants in North America by 2030.

The automaker's first BEV models will begin rolling out in the U.S. in 2023. Ram is getting ready to launch the electric ProMaster van this year, followed by its first electric pickup, the 1500 REV, in 2024. Jeep is stepping into the EV space next year with a trail-ready Wrangler-inspired Recon and its stylish Wagoneer S.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the big problem with electrification is making it affordable.

"Our mission is to bring clean, safe and affordable solutions to ensure freedom of mobility to our citizens," Tavares said on an earnings call last week after being asked what his message was to the workers of Belvidere. "This is exactly what we are doing. When we do this and we execute on physical evidence, what it means to bring a safe, clean and affordable vehicle, we see that there is a very significant challenge on cost."

He reiterated that the decision to switch to cleaner but more expensive powertrains was made by lawmakers on behalf of voters, and said that "when you start developing a brand new technology, this additional cost needs to be absorbed in a way or another."

Logan sees the shift to EVs as bittersweet.

He said it will cost jobs because electric models need fewer parts than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles and won't require as many workers.

Plus, he said the charging infrastructure isn't up to par. Logan believes there is a need for a "universal charger" that can be used no matter what vehicle a person is driving. He raised the need for legislation about this a few weeks ago with U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and fellow Democrat, Illinois State Sen. Steve Stadelman of Rockford. Logan also worries about the ability of power grids to support an influx of EVs.

But the benefits, he said, will be a cleaner environment and maybe some good-paying jobs for Belvidere.

UAW Region 4 Director Brandon Campbell said the plant once produced three models on two different platforms — proven flexibility that might be needed to sustain a competitive operation. He believes an EV could generate the sales volume needed to keep the line humming.

"Depending on how the company treats the vehicle, how they promote the vehicle of the future, that will determine whether a plant will be viable or not," Campbell said. "But I'm confident in the work force at Belvidere to be able to build vehicles of a significant amount of quality, their throughput will be second to none, as that plant has always [done]. The attendance will again be second to none in the corporation, so if there's profit to be made off that vehicle, they can do it in Belvidere."

Campbell was hired at Belvidere in 1994. His father worked there, too.

If he could sit down with Tavares, Campbell said, he would tell him that this situation is creating "unfathomable amounts of stress and uncertainty for our members there. They deserve better."

Campbell told union members last month in a Facebook message that UAW President Ray Curry has been in contact with President Joe Biden and his staff "to both pressure Stellantis to direct new product to Belvidere and to steer federal incentives toward the efforts to keep that plant open."

Belvidere Mayor Clint Morris believes a jolt of federal money may be needed to close the deal.

Morris empathizes with the workers and has been in their shoes. He said he was laid off from his job in the machine tool industry in the early 1980s while supporting his young family, but he was able to rebound and go on to have a successful career.

"Our employees here are individuals that work hard, that are chasing the same dream that I had chased when I was young, and the [dream] that I had been able to obtain because I had a good job," Morris said. "I was able to raise my family and had a good quality of life, and they're no different. That's all they're asking for is an opportunity, and it's a shame."

Nichelle Cruz isn't sure what to think of EVs at this point.

Cruz, who has worked at Belvidere since 2009, just wants to get a product that will keep the plant going. In the meantime, she's hoping to transfer to the Jeep operation in Toledo, Ohio, where her husband has been working for nearly four years after being laid off from Belvidere, or to somewhere in the Detroit area, not too far away.

It wouldn't be her first move. Cruz came to Belvidere Assembly Plant after working at Chrysler's St. Louis minivan plant until it closed in 2008.

She has 29 years with the company and is planning to work several more years before retiring. Cruz, who didn't want to give her age, said she isn't prepared to have to move again and is not looking forward to leaving Belvidere.

"This is what we do, we build vehicles," said Cruz, who is the community service chair for Local 1268. "For it to come to this, this is rough. It's hard on families. You don't know whether you pack up your house or don't pack."

At a resource and opportunity fair this month at the UAW Local 1268 building, longtime Belvidere worker Glenn Scott was lamenting the loss of the nearby FCA Health and Wellness Center for plant employees, which is closing March 3. The union said it will fight the decision to close the facility.

The opportunity fair was meant for veterans and anyone affected by the Belvidere layoffs. Exhibitors included several colleges, veterans organizations and groups such as the Workforce Connection, which was there to connect people with job search assistance and training services.

Scott, 59, who served in the Marine Corps and was there to pick up a veterans ID card, said his plant days may be over.

After working at Belvidere for 29 years, Scott is contemplating if he can stay out on unemployment benefits over the next year before retiring. He also might finish his career at another plant, preferably Toledo Assembly Complex where a friend works.

Scott said rumors of Belvidere closing have been "in the air" for as long as he's been there, but the plant kept chugging along and getting new products. Now he is wondering if that long-held fear is coming to fruition.

Employment at the Belvidere plant had been sinking for years, going from more than 5,000 workers in 2019 to around 1,150 today as the company gets ready to idle operations there.

"We don't know if it's closing for real or not," Scott said. "They ain't telling us nothing."

Community members have been assisting workers at a difficult time.

The mayor of Rockford, Ill., Thomas McNamara, said his community, while closely linked with the Belvidere plant, isn't locked down to one industry.

Rockford is home to three health systems employing thousands at each site, he said. The area has a fast-growing cargo airport that went from around 4,500 jobs in 2017 to about 8,700 today. The region is active in the aerospace sector. For those looking to retrain themselves, McNamara said Rock Valley College has an aviation maintenance degree that could be a prime opportunity.

McNamara, who chairs the Northern Illinois Council of Governments, told the group it needs to put pressure on federal and state officials to help. Belvidere's Mayor Morris is on the council as well.

The group is in communication with the governor's office, including Deputy Gov. Andy Manar, who oversees economic issues, and with Pritzker, who has participated in calls and virtual meetings with the council. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, has attended meetings as well.

"We've been really fortunate, from our Rockford Area Economic Development Council to the local Workforce Connection to Goodwill [Industries] of Northern Illinois, all helped bring all of this together," McNamara said, "so that we could provide the support and services that, unfortunately, the citizens need at this time."

UAW Local 1268's Logan graduated from Belvidere High School in 1991 and was hired at the plant in 1994. The second-generation auto worker said his father began working at the Belvidere plant in 1967 after moving from Iowa.

Logan said there's legacy here. The plant has had its ups and downs —mostly ups, he said — and it continues to stand out from other factories because it has a stamping operation attached. Normally, the stamping units are in different buildings.

Jeep brought back the storied Cherokee nameplate for the 2014 model year as a replacement for the Liberty, and it drew jeers for its design. Production shifted from Toledo Assembly Complex to Belvidere in 2017, a move that required Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to invest $350 million into the Illinois plant to build the vehicle.

U.S. sales for this Cherokee generation peaked soon after in 2018 with 239,437 deliveries.

Sales fell swiftly in the years since. Stellantis cut the second shift in July 2021 as it battled the chip shortage and 2022 sales dropped to 40,322 vehicles.

Critical chip allocations needed to produce the Cherokee were being directed to Stellantis models with higher profits. Logan said "the writing was on the wall" for the Cherokee when the company trimmed the number of options available for the vehicle last year. He feels like the Cherokee has been competing with Jeep's similar-sized Compass, which is made in Mexico and costs thousands of dollars less.

He wonders if Belvidere could have retained at least one shift had it been able to keep the Compass, which it built for 10 years until December 2016.

Logan had hoped the plant would get to make electrified Dodge Chargers and Challengers, but those now appear headed for Windsor Assembly Plant in Ontario, which is being retooled for the STLA large platform that will support those models.

He has been trying to make sense of Stellantis' strategy in Belvidere.

"It's just frustrating. I don't understand," Logan said. "I'm to the point where I'm just making myself crazy for trying to even understand it. Trying to figure out what their endgame is. I just don't know."