General Motors is reversing course at Wentzville Assembly plant, even as it continues to experience high worker absenteeism by a fearful workforce as coronavirus cases surge in the surrounding community.
On Monday, GM was supposed to be in the process of idling its third shift at the factory located near St. Louis. The move would have meant some of the 1,250 people on that shift would be reassigned to other shifts or some would be put on furlough.
But GM says it will now continue to run the factory on three shifts by shuffling staff, including possibly transferring some Michigan workers to Wentzville, Missouri.
“We have a plan in place that will enable Wentzville to keep operating on three shifts. It’s been a challenging time to accommodate people who were not returning to work due to concerns about COVID-19,” said GM spokesman Dan Flores. “The new operating plan will include GM transfers from other locations and that certainly will help. Any transfer is handled in accordance with the terms of the union contract.”
Local union leaders at the plant helped to craft the plan, which Flores said also could include using temporary workers, to avoid layoffs.
“Obviously, we don’t want anybody laid off,” said one person familiar with plant operations who asked to not be identified because there was no authorization to speak to the media. “But I believe there are still issues in how GM is handling the COVID.”
GM’s transfers
As first reported by the Free Press on July 11, GM had planned to operate Wentzville on two shifts because of the impact coronavirus was having on worker attendance.
But GM and the local union have found a way to keep the plant humming on three shifts and protect workers, which Flores said is GM’s priority because, “without people being safe we can’t build product.”
“We respect people who don’t want to report to work due to COVID concerns. But most of the workforce does feel safe,” Flores said. “We’ll obviously keep monitoring it, but we are very confident our safety protocols are working.”
The UAW said it remains in dialogue with GM and the local UAW leaders at every plant, including Wentzville.
“Each week may bring changes or challenges during this pandemic,” said Brian Rothenberg, UAW spokesman. “We aggressively monitor all of these adjustments with an eye toward member safety and the plants’ adherence to protocols, as well as contract provisions regarding staffing and any proposed transfers.”
Wentzville is an important plant for GM. There, some 3,800 hourly workers assemble GM’s profitable Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups. GM also builds the Chevy Express and GMC Savana full-size vans in the 5.1-million-square-foot plant.
But the facility is located in St. Charles County, which has experienced an explosion of new COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. As of 7 a.m. Monday, there were 3,063 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 90 deaths in St. Charles County. That compares with 1,526 confirmed cases and 77 deaths there on July 10, according to the county’s public health website.
Flores declined to disclose the number of workers GM will transfer to Wentzville or from where they will come, saying some might be local GM workers called up from layoff or they could come from out of state.
GM’s pool could also include some hourly workers laid off when GM idled its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant earlier this year, he said. And, by Friday, GM will terminate the third shift at its Spring Hill Assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, because of slow demand. It will lay off 525 production and skilled traders workers and 155 temporary employees at the plant that makes the Cadillac XT5, Cadillac XT6 and GMC Acadia SUVs.
GM’s balancing act
GM’s safety protocols are working at Wentzville, Flores said. It is believed that workers who have tested positive for the virus have contracted it on the outside and GM’s screening processes have kept them from bringing it in the plant.
But no one really knows exactly how the virus is affecting the Wentzville workforce because GM will not provide the number of coronavirus cases in its plants. The company has said it is protecting people’s privacy.
It’s that lack of transparency that keeps absenteeism high, said the person familiar with plant operations.
“People don’t know who has it and who doesn’t,”said the person. “GM’s lack transparency is hurting productivity.”
On June 12, Wentzville had five cases since restarting operations in mid-May. At that time, UAW Local 2250 President Glenn Kage told the Free Press the union had asked GM to shut down the plant and GM declined. But GM sprayed the plant with chemical disinfectant over the Fourth of July weekend.
In a union communication sent to members Friday, the most recent one obtained by the Free Press, UAW Local 2250 Shop Chairman Alan Chambliss told workers there were 44 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the plant. But workers who contacted the Free Press say the figure is much higher. When reached by the Free Press, Chambliss declined to comment.
GM follows a protocol if someone tests positive for the virus. Its plant medical staff does contact tracing to protect any other people who might have been in contact with the person who tested positive, Flores said.
“The challenge we have, whether it’s notifying the workforce or the local union, is that there is a balance between protecting personal information and sharing information with people who, to some degree, have a right to know what is going on,” Flores said. “So we’re very limited in what we can share.”
To help keep the workforce healthy, Flores said there are consistent reminders encouraging employees to practice in the community and at home the same safety protocols used in the plant, such as wearing a face mask, social distancing and good hand hygiene.
Dealers need trucks
GM had to find a solution to keep the plant humming on all three shifts. Wentzville, like all of GM’s North American assembly plants, sat idle from mid-March to mid-May as the pandemic swept the nation. Between that and the UAW’s 40-day strike against GM last fall, the normally hot-selling pickups have been in short supply, analysts said.
Midsize trucks across the industry had a scant 45 days’ average supply, according to Cox Automotive mid-month data. The industry norm is 60 days. Cox data shows the GMC Canyon has a 73-day supply, but the Chevy Colorado had just a 46-day supply.
That production drought and a weaker market in general has resulted in a 37.3% plunge in sales of the Colorado in the second quarter. The Express sales fell 58.2% to 9,006, while sales of the Canyon tumbled 56.1% to 5,225, and sales of the Savana dropped 68.6% to 2,984.
“Buyers were scooping up pickups when the business shifted to 0% financing deals as the pandemic started and, even though plants are now up and running, automakers are having a tough time catching up,” said Charlie Chesbrough, Cox Automotive senior economist. “Anyone looking for a great deal on a pickup truck will be hard-pressed to get one now — if they can even find the exact truck they want.”
More: 1,250 workers facing layoffs at GM’s Wentzville Assembly Plant
More: GM declines request to shut down plant as cases of coronavirus grow, union says
GM said there is a demand for its pickups, it just needs to catch up on production to fill dealers’ lots.
“We’ve actually gained retail market share in our full-size truck business,” Flores said. “So our trucks and SUVs are doing very well and dealers need us to build inventory because most inventory is still very low. Dealers like inventory so that they can provide customers with a lot of choices.”
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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