Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to restart its production plants on May 4.
The announcement Monday caps speculation that the plants would remain closed longer than initially envisioned as the COVID-19 outbreak has continued to expand.
FCA, which has experienced numerous deaths related to the coronavirus, said employee health is a top priority. The Free Press earlier reported confirmation of the deaths of 11 FCA employees and six Ford employees diagnosed with the disease.
“FCA continues to make the health and well-being of its employees a top priority. With that in mind, FCA intends to progressively restart its U.S. and Canadian manufacturing facilities beginning May 4. The status of production at FCA’s Mexico operations will be the subject of a separate announcement,” FCA said in its announcement.
Other automakers are grappling with similar concerns.
General Motors has no firm date for restarting production.
“We are actively monitoring the situation, and when it is determined that we can safely resume regular production, we will,” according to spokesman Jim Cain.
Ford CEO Jim Hackett has said production at the Dearborn automaker is not likely to resume before May. In a statement Monday, the company highlighted the uncertain nature of the situation:
“We are continuing to assess public health conditions, government guidelines and supplier readiness to determine when to resume production in our North American plants. We’ll share more detail at the appropriate time.”
On Monday, Honda announced that the production suspension at its automobile, engine and transmission plants in the United States and Canada will continue through May 1.
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In its announcement, FCA also emphasized the efforts to make its facilities safe.
“During this current production pause, we are working with government officials and our unions to implement new procedures to certify the daily wellness of our workforce while also redesigning work stations to maintain proper social distancing and expanding the already extensive cleaning protocols at all locations. As a result of these actions, we will only restart operations with safe, secure and sanitized workplaces to protect all of our employees,” the company said.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.
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