The Metalworkers’ Union at FCA Powertrain, part of the Stellantis-owned engine factory in Bielsko-Biała, has announced the company’s liquidation on its website. Mass layoffs will affect all employees, extending until December 2024. Stellantis has confirmed plans to gradually reduce production at the Bielsko-Biała facility until the end of 2024.
Stellantis will permanently close its Bielsko-Biała plant during 2024
The union’s statement reveals that the mass layoffs will impact all 468 Stellantis employees from February to December 2024. At a meeting on Wednesday, union representatives met with Andrzej Tokarz, former director of FCA Powertrain and current liquidator.
The union highlighted in a statement that Stellantis’ decision to liquidate is driven by new European Commission regulations on combustion engine exhaust emissions. Coupled with a decrease in orders for such engines, this led to a resolution by the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on January 2, 2024, to dissolve the company.
Union leader Jacek Duraj stated that the liquidator has 20 days to negotiate employment termination conditions. The first meeting is scheduled for January 9, with the employment termination spanning February to December 2024. “Layoff dates will be determined by business needs. It is expected that engine production will end today: GSE by the end of March, SDE by the end of April, and SDE manufacturing by the end of May,” Duraj detailed.
Liter Metalowcy added that the management plans to propose various options regarding the planned layoffs. These include job offers at other Stellantis facilities, a voluntary redundancy plan, and termination of employment contracts under special law concerning layoffs not attributable to employees.
Stellantis is continuing a significant transformation of its production structure in Poland, aligning with the ambitious goals of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan. These goals include reducing carbon dioxide emissions, improving cost efficiency, and reflecting EU regulatory restrictions. The regulations prohibit the sale of new combustion-powered vehicles starting from 2035.
The board of FCA Powertrain Poland in Bielsko-Biała, together with the unions, is striving to find socially acceptable solutions, ensuring the best possible conditions for about five hundred employees during this professional transition. Concurrently, Stellantis intends to offer employment opportunities at other production facilities in Poland to employees of the Bielsko-Biała factory, should they express interest.
In addition to job opportunities at the Tychy and Gliwice car and commercial vehicle production plants, other employment prospects for former Bielsko plant employees are offered by other Stellantis group companies in Poland. These include the Stellantis engine factory in Tychy and Teksid, an iron casting workshop in Skoczów. FCA Powertrain in Bielski produces combustion engines used in automobiles.