| By Big Radio News Staff |
UAW workers in the stateline are shouting a rally cry as automaker Stellantis announces it will reopen its shuttered Belvidere, Illinois auto assembly plant.
UAW officials say in a statement Wednesday that Stellantis is showing an about-face in its plans to reopen the Belvidere plant in 2027 to build the mid-size Dodge Durango pickup truck.
Word of Stellantis’ move in Belvidere comes after months of rancor between the nation’s largest automakers union and Stellantis over an earlier promise to reopen the plant.
UAW president Shawn Fain says the move shows Stellantis is changing course from an earlier stance under former CEO Carlos Tavarez. Fain’s talking about the aftermath of the union’s 2023 labor contract with Stellantis, and how the company had walked away from promises it made to reopen Belvidere Assembly’s operations in the 2023 contract with the union.
Fain calls the planned reopening a “testament to the power of workers standing together and holding a billion-dollar corporation accountable.”
He says the UAW has proven it will “do what it takes to protect good union jobs that are the lifeblood of places like Belvidere.”
