“A plant can’t be permanently shuttered without the buy-in from the U.A.W.,” Ms. Dziczek said. “So this is a really significant round of talks coming up.”
The Detroit automakers have idled plants ahead of past contract negotiations, only to reopen them after bargaining with the union. In 2019, G.M. was winding down production at its Hamtramck plant in Detroit as contract talks began, and ended up agreeing to produce the first of its new generation of electric vehicles there.
In those same talks, however, G.M. closed its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and resisted the union’s efforts to reopen it. While the Lordstown plant was sold, G.M. built a new battery plant a mile away. Workers at the battery plant this month voted overwhelmingly in favor of U.A.W. representation.
The president of the U.A.W., Ray Curry, said in an interview that he had been having discussions since August with Stellantis’s chief executive, Carlos Tavares, as well as officials of the Biden administration and the Illinois governor’s office in a push to keep the Belvidere plant alive.
“The corporation is looking at scenarios for putting product in Belvidere,” he said, “and I can tell you the governor has not given up, I have not given up, and we are all advocating for the survival of that plant.”
The plant is certain to become a key topic next year when the U.A.W. membership chooses a president. Mr. Curry finished slightly ahead of a reform candidate, Shawn Fain, in a field of five presidential candidates in a November election. Mr. Curry and Mr. Fain will face each other in a runoff early next year.
Mr. Fain said he would push Stellantis hard to assign new models to be built in Belvidere and preserve jobs. In the past, he said, U.A.W. leaders have been too willing to accept wage, benefit and job concessions sought by Ford, G.M. and Stellantis.
