“GM’s US production stopped immediately when the UAW [United Auto Workers] walked off the job on September 16 and we estimate its Canadian and Mexican facilities became progressively impacted throughout the first week,” J.P. Morgan analyst Ryan Brinkman said in a note to investors on Monday.
The Associated Press reported less that one hour ago that General Motors was forced to shut down its pickup truck and transmission factories in Silao, Mexico because of a parts shortage. This was confirmed by GM spokesman Dan Flores – who said production at the factories ended Tuesday morning, affecting 6,000 workers.
This means that GM has lost any new supplies of its light-duty Chevrolet Silverado, the company’s top-selling U.S. vehicle. Earlier last week, GM had to close a Mexican engine plant and an assembly plant in Canada due to the strike.
The UAW strike is now in its third week and negotiations appear to have slowed down. About 48,000 UAW members have been picketing since Sept. 1, with workers receiving a fraction of their weekly compensation, made up in strike payments from UAW.
Half of GM’s approximately 5,900 hourly employees at its three Ontario plants were off the job this past week as collective bargaining continued between GM and the UAW. A disruption in the auto p[arts supply chain
“GM likely has some ability to recover a portion of these lost profits by shifting production from 3Q into 4Q, although the automaker will also likely be limited in its ability to add production for vehicles already in high demand or in launch mode (such as its high profit full-size “heavy-duty” pickup trucks),” Brinkman said, reports CNBC News.
