United Auto Workers members on a picket line outside the Stellantis NV Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio, on Sept. 18, 2023.
Emily Elconin | Bloomberg | Getty Images
General Motors and Stellantis said they have laid off additional workers because of consequences related to the United Auto Workers strike.
GM said in a statement Wednesday that it has halted production at its assembly plant in Fairfax, Kansas, because of a “shortage of critical stampings” that would have been supplied by its factory in Wentzville, Missouri, where workers went on strike last week. About 2,000 workers are affected.
Earlier Wednesday, Stellantis said it is laying off about 370 employees at three parts factories in Ohio and Indiana immediately due to “storage constraints,” also related to the strike. The plants make parts for Jeep vehicles built at the automaker’s Toledo Assembly Complex, where workers are also on strike.
UAW-represented workers walked out of the Wentzville and Toledo assembly plants, as well as a Ford Motor factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, on Sep. 15, after the three automakers failed to reach a deal on a new contract with the union.
GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant builds the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Cadillac XT4 crossover. GM said that because of the strike, the 2,000 workers laid off from Fairfax will not be eligible for the supplemental unemployment benefits that its laid-off employees would normally receive.
“We have said repeatedly that nobody wins in a strike,” GM said in a statement. “What happened to our Fairfax team members is a clear and immediate demonstration of that fact. We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
Nearly 13,000 GM, Ford and Stellantis workers are on strike at the Wentzville, Toledo and Wayne plants. UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would announce more strikes Friday unless there is “serious progress” in negotiations.