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Officials at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sent home the few remaining workers at the MOPAR parts distribution center in Center Line on Wednesday morning after at least one employee tested positive for coronavirus, the UAW confirmed.
“The business has been open with paid volunteers” because it’s an essential business, spokesman Brian Rothenberg said. “They’re deep cleaning and following protocol.”
The UAW is aware of at least one confirmed positive test with reports of others pending confirmation.
Asked about the situation, an FCA spokewoman said in a prepared statement, “We have cases of COVID-19 in our business enterprise, however out of respect for employee privacy, we will not provide additional comment. Wherever we have confirmed cases, we are following all of the extensive cleaning and disinfecting protocols.”
Natalie Farquhar, who has spent nearly 26 years working for FCA, has packaged parts for 14 years in Center Line. She described being called into a meeting with union and company officials Wednesday morning to learn that a colleague is sick in the hospital.
“We package parts for all distribution centers in the nation, and we’re the only Fiat Chrysler facility that packages MOPAR parts,” she said. “We have one confirmed person that is apparently in ICU from the packaging building. We know who it is, though they won’t tell us officially. Someone has been in contact with the family. We were told to go home today and they would disinfect the building.”
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She said, “Only 20 or so of us agreed to come to work voluntarily out of about 150 people. The others are on voluntary layoff.”
The president of UAW Local 1248 met with members to share the news, and then the FCA operations manager of packaging said he joined the meeting after officials at the UAW International headquarters called, she said. “They apparently planned to disinfect with us still in there.”
“I was told to back to work on Thursday. But my husband doesn’t want me to go. I might have to use two of my vacation days for the remainder of the week and then go on voluntary layoff on Monday,” Farquhar said. “It’s scary. The woman that is sick worked up until Friday. They didn’t tell us anyone was infected until today at about 11 o’clock. She was in close contact with maybe three people and she worked in packaging on a machine that runs boxes and then people put a part in the box as its goes by. People worked in that location all weekend and until today.”
She said, “People were asking the operations manager, ‘Do we need to be quarantined or tested? What do we need to do?’ And he said, ‘It’s been five days, do you feel any symptoms?’ I said, “You can be a carrier and not have any symptoms.’ Now the union says they’ll be interviewing people to see who was in contact.”
Farquhar’s husband, Scott, a heavy equipment operator on temporary layoff from a paving company based in Livonia, doesn’t want her going back now. “I’m just nervous about her being at work.”
Fiat Chrysler and UAW officials have said they continue monitoring for best practices in workplace safety.
Officials have confirmed that two FCA factory workers have died from coronavirus.
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