This news was confirmed by officials from FCA and the following statement was released: “Consistent with CDC guidelines and the company’s own protocols, the company has placed into home quarantine his immediate co-workers and others in the facility he may have come into direct contact with,” Fiat Chrysler said in an emailed statement. “Additionally, the company has deep cleaned and disinfected his working area and is deploying additional sanitization measures across the entire facility, retiming break times to avoid crowding and deploying social spacing.”
It was also reported that the Kokomo facility would continue it’s regular production schedule.
On March 15th, the UAW released a statement announcing the creation of a “joint task force” comprised of UAW President Rory Gamble, GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, and FCA CEO Michael Manley.
“Workplace health and safety is a priority for us every day, all three companies have been taking steps to keep the COVID-19/coronavirus out of their facilities and during this national emergency, we will do even more working together,” said Gamble, who convened the leaders of all three companies. “We are focused on doing the right thing for our people, their families, our communities and the country. All options related to protecting against exposure to the virus are on the table.”
Contrary to the statements made by Brother Gamble that the companies have been taking steps to stop the spread of coronavirus, there have been numerous UAW workers who have contacted UAWD stating that in many of these production facilities hand soap, toilet paper, and paper towels are often not available, and that restrooms are often not adequately cleaned.
The truth is that workplace health and safety is not a priority for the automakers. Maximizing profit and satisfying shareholders– at any cost — is the number one priority of the CEOs of these corporations who can isolate themselves while forcing workers to continue to work in unsafe conditions.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep across the country, the UAWD interim steering committee is adamant in the belief that the response by both the automakers and the IUAW is woefully insufficient. Given how easily the virus can be contracted, the environments inside of these plants, and the general nature of assembly line work, we believe the number one priority of both the Detroit automakers and our UAW leadership should be the health and safety of the workers inside of these production facilities.
We do not believe the answer to this crisis is ANOTHER joint program between high-ranking union officials and auto executives where those who are making the decisions on what the proper protocol should be inside of the plants will not have to live with the consequences of those decisions.
We believe the correct decision to make in regards to our union leadership would be to demand a shut down of all facilities and for workers to be paid their full wages until these facilities are safe to work inside of again.