General Motors recently idled yet another auto plant sending approximately two thousand workers home as the company continues to grapple with the effects of an ongoing strike. The latest impacted plant is the GM facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee, located about 25 miles south of Nashville.
The widespread strike—which broke out on September 16, 2019—has now entered its fourth month, with no end in sight. Nearly forty-five thousand hourly workers from across the United States walked off the job, calling for better wages, improved job security, guarantees against plant closures, and other improvements in the workplace.
The union representing the workers, the United Automobile Workers, has been pressing GM for a fair new contract for over a year. GM has declined to budge, however, pushing for employee healthcare concessions instead. Frustration caused by the strike has mounted both amongst workers and, ultimately, observers across America as nearly all of GM’s fifty-four thousand hourly employees in the United States are now on strike or have been impacted in some way due to temporary plant closures.
The latest workers to feel the impact of the strike are those in Spring Hill. GM told workers that the plant would be idled immediately, sending two thousand employees home early without pay, until further notice.
GM’s Spring Hill plant previously manufactured the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Cadillac XT5, and GMC Acadia. In the wake of the idling, only essential personnel will remain on site to take care of the facility and maintenance operations.
A GM spokesman told reporters that personnel in St. Catharines, Ontario—another targeted plant— are also set to be sent home early this week as the strike continues to take its toll. He said GM is constantly assessing production schedules as the strike continues.
For now, the only thing left to do is wait and see how things will unfold. Will GM give in to union demands or will the workers be stuck out in the cold for much longer? Only time will tell.
