Most Fiat Chrysler workers have returned to factories for more than a month after being temporarily laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic. And although production has restarted, workers have also been temporarily detained at two plants separated by the coronavirus, and the FCA is fed up.
The first strike was on June 25 at Jefferson North in Detroit, where a worker who later tested negative was sent home and the workers there stopped in solidarity.
The second was two days later at the Stirling Heights assembly plant, also in Michigan, where arrested employees after one of them was sent for a virus test.
The day after that, Fiat Chrysler had apparently decided that it had enough. The company’s chief manufacturing officer sent a letter to employees on June 28 threatening discipline if there were more “unauthorized” stoppages. The executive also said the payment could be docked.
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Of Bloomberg:
“Unauthorized work stoppages at our facilities create disturbances and potentially safety issues and therefore cannot be tolerated,” wrote Mike Resha, head of North American manufacturing at Fiat Chrysler, in a letter dated June 28. . Employees who have caused unapproved closings will face disciplinary action, and the stoppages “will result in zero pay,” he wrote.
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A Fiat Chrysler representative declined to comment on the letter. The company agreed to adjust health assessment procedures for workers entering plants and send cleaners to work areas within 15 minutes of notification, Resha wrote. He also warned any employees who are not candid in health assessment questionnaires that staff must complete before being fired from the facility.
The UAW has encouraged automakers to perhaps listen to their employees’ concerns in facing the pandemic, although this approach is that management tells workers to listen to them or be disciplined.
Meanwhile, three Sterling Heights workers died from COVID-19 in the course of the pandemic, one in March and two in April, plus a room that worked at an FCA plant in Kokomo, Indiana. FCA workers know the bets as well as anyone.
I emailed FCA to see if I had any further comments.
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