This latest round of layoffs is in addition to the estimated 4,500 temporary layoffs GM and its suppliers handed out to employees as of Friday, according to Jerry Dias, president of Canadian trade union Unifor, which represents GM and other autoworkers in Canada, according to CNBC.
A breakdown of today’s furloughs includes 525 hourly employees at the automaker’s jointly operated DMax engine facility in Ohio and about 700 people at GM’s St. Catharines, Ontario, powertrain plant, according to union and company officials.
This means there are 3,725 workers temporarily without a job at GM and at least 2,000 employees at its suppliers, in addition to the nearly 50,000 workers who walked off the job lask weekend.
The total number of employees out of work at GM’s suppliers may be inaccurate and is probably significantly higher as there isn’t a way to track all of GM’s suppliers.
Visit to the picket line at the #GM parts distribution plant in Langhorne, PA. Solidarity with the UAW! #1u #UAWstrike #GMstrike pic.twitter.com/V9ULCTA6mc
— Eric Dirnbach ☕⚡ (@EricDirnbach) September 21, 2019
General Motors didn’t immediately comment on today’s layoffs, however, on Friday, the company said it planned to immediately resume operations at plants hit by the strike “as quickly as possible” once they get a deal.
Julie A. Fream, president and CEO of auto parts trade group the Original Equipment Supplier Association, said last week the “vast majority of North American supplier plants shipping product to GM will need to adjust their production schedules” if the strike is going to last longer than a week.
Talks between the UAW and GM had hit an impasse as the two sides tried to negotiate an agreement on a new four-year contract. Besides wages and healthcare contributions, GM’s use of temporary workers, and the union’s efforts to reverse a 2018 decision to shutter five plants in North America have been sticking points in the talks.
The one bright spot in the whole story is that the UAW said today that talks have been resumed. The strike is estimated to cost GM up to $100 million a day in lost production, according to Wall Street analysts.
