GM possibly laying off 250 part-time workers at Fort Wayne plant
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General Motors could potentially lay off 253 part-time temporary workers at its Fort Wayne Assembly plant if a new contract agreement isn’t reached with the United Auto Workers union.
A spokesperson for the automaker told Inside INdiana Business that the layoffs would take place on Monday if a deal isn’t made by then.
“The company and UAW have been unable to reach an agreement for extending part-time temporary team members at Fort Wayne Assembly,” the spokesperson said. “According to the provisions of our National UAW-GM contract, without an agreement, we will be required to release about 250 temporary employees.”
UAW Local 2209 Chairman Rich LeTourneau told our partners at WPTA-TV that the union is advocating for GM to move at least some of the part-time employees to full-time status.
He said the current contract states that employees must be full-time for at least nine months before being considered for permanent positions.
In a statement to IIB, LeTourneau said some of the part-time workers have been at the plant for well over a year.
“The company has no intentions of making them full time or even hiring them,” he said. “My committee and I have made the decision to continue exploiting them is the wrong message to send to these people. We have a lot of open jobs in the plant but the company only wants to fill them with temps. It’s our position if they need them to run then hire them!
The news comes as the Fort Wayne Assembly plant is on a weeklong pause in production due to what GM called a temporary supply-chain issue.
The plant is expected to resume production on Monday, the spokesperson said. The pause also affected production at GM’s Marion Metal Center plant.
The 4.6 million-square-foot facility—located in the town of Roanoke about 16 miles southwest of Fort Wayne—manufactures the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickup trucks, producing about 1,300 vehicles per day, according to the company’s website.
The facility employs approximately 4,000 workers.