General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA, EPA:STLA) have laid off workers less than a week into the United Auto Worker’s strike on the big three automakers.
GM announced Wednesday that it has halted production at an assembly plant in Fairfax, Kansas, blaming a “shortage of critical stampings” it says would have been supplied by its plant in Wentzville, Missouri, where workers went on strike last week.
Roughly 2,000 workers were impacted by the decision.
“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.”
Also on Wednesday, Stellantis said it is laying off 370 workers at three parts factories in Indiana and Ohio, similarly due to “storage constraints” caused by the strike. The factories in question make parts for Jeep vehicles produced at Stellantis’ Toledo, Ohio facility, where UAW workers are also striking.
UAW president Shawn Fain has said the union will likely call on additional plants to join the targeted strike of the automakers on Friday if sufficient progress toward a deal isn’t made.
In addition to the GM facility in Missouri and the Stellantis plant in Ohio, union members are also striking the Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) plant in Wayne, Michigan. Nearly 13,000 workers are striking in total.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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