UAW strike day 6: GM idles Kansas plant because of Missouri site walkout
Published in Automotive News
General Motors Co. is idling its Fairfax, Kansas, plant where 2,000 hourly employees work, the automaker said Wednesday, citing the impact of a strike by the United Auto Workers at a Missouri facility.
“It is unfortunate that the UAW leadership’s decision to call a strike at Wentzville Assembly has already had a negative ripple effect, with GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas being idled today and most of its represented team members leaving the plant as there is no work available," the Detroit automaker said in a statement.
The layoff is due to a shortage of stamped parts supplied by Wentzville’s stamping operations to Fairfax, where the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Cadillac XT4 SUV are built. Employees will not receive supplemental pay from GM while they're laid off.
The strike is also affecting workers connected to Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV plants where UAW members walked out Friday. Jeep maker Stellantis on Wednesday said it was "immediately" laying off 68 workers at its machining plant outside Toledo, Ohio, as a result of the UAW's strike at its Wrangler and Gladiator plant in the city, now in its sixth day. Hundreds more at the Toledo machining facility soon could face the same.
The automaker said it anticipates another estimated 300 layoffs at Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting in Indiana, according to a statement sent by spokesperson Jodi Tinson. She declined to share the specifics on the timing of that.
The layoffs come two days ahead of the UAW's deadline to see “serious progress” in talks with the Detroit Three automakers or strike more plants. There are 12,700 UAW members already on strike in the union's first simultaneous walkout against all three companies.
Storage constraints are causing the layoff at the Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg, Ohio. The site employs more than 400 hourly workers who belong to the UAW, and production for other vehicles will continue.
"Stellantis," the statement said, "continues to closely monitor the impact of the UAW strike action on our manufacturing operations."
Ford last week laid off about 600 workers at its Bronco and Ranger plant in Wayne after the UAW called a strike by body and paint shop workers there.
GM exec slams UAW 'myths'
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