General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) each announced worker furloughs in connection with the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike on Monday
Eighteen days into the strike, GM announced 130 cuts at its Parma, Ohio Metal Center and 34 at its Marion, Indiana Metal Center. Ford furloughed a total of 330 workers at its Chicago Stamping and Lima, Ohio Engine plants.
The move followed a UAW decision Friday to launch strikes at GM’s Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan, which builds the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse crossovers, and Ford’s Chicago Assembly plant in Illinois, which produces the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs. The move added roughly 7,000 workers to the more than 18,000 already striking.
On September 20, GM 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, one of the initial plants the UAW selected for its targeted strike. Roughly 2,000 workers were impacted by the decision.
Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA, EPA:STLA), which was spared the UAW's latest round of strikes, laid off 370 workers at three parts factories in Indiana and Ohio the same day.
The UAW continued bargaining talks with both GM and Stellantis on Monday, according to reports. This strike is the first from the union to target all three Detroit automakers.
The strike has already taken its toll, according to a research note from JPMorgan released Monday. The firm estimated that the strike has cost GM $191 million and Ford $145 million, according to reports. However, there are reasons to think a deal can get done, “including that the two sides being reportedly close on pay and benefits."
Elsewhere, roughly 4,000 members of UAW tentatively agreed to a new deal with Mack Trucks, avoiding a strike hours before the midnight Sunday deadline.
The deal still needs to be ratified by the UAW itself.
Mack president Mark Roy said the agreement would deliver “significantly increased wages and continue first-class benefits.”
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