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GM Could Cut 250 Temporary Workers At Its Fort Wayne, Indiana Plant

Due to a failure to reach an agreement with the UAW, GM might lay off about 250 temporary workers at its Fort Wayne truck plant in Indiana by the end of September. General Motors is trying to negotiate to extend the workers’ part-time status, but UAW Local 2209 wants them promoted to either full-time temps or permanent employees.

“The company and UAW have been unable to reach an agreement for extending part-time temporary team members at Fort Wayne Assembly,” GM spokesperson Tara Kuhnen said in a statement. “According to the provisions of our National UAW-GM contract, without an agreement, we will be required to release about 250 temporary employees by September 30th, 2024.”

UAW flag.

Meanwhile, the Fort Wayne plant’s union representation is striving to get those workers hired. “[GM] made it very clear they are not going to hire [the temporary workers],” UAW Local 2209 chairman Rich LeTourneau told The Detroit News. “They don’t even argue about it with me. They’re not even skeptical about it. They’re not going to hire them. They’re not going to give them false expectations.”

According to a newsletter he wrote last week, LeTourneau refuses to agree to extend the part-time status of the workers in question because he believes that course of action “would be exploiting our temps, and that contradicts everything the UAW stands for.”

GM says extending the part-time temps to full-time status would be an unneeded cost, but the union argues that they will be needed come November because of an upcoming retirement buyout program. However, under the current contract, GM has to either hire them as permanent employees or let them go after nine months of continuous service if an agreement isn’t reached.

“The new GM has violated our local and national agreements since they walked in the front door,” LeTourneau said. “Not signing a temp letter is not a violation; it’s a right. The company’s countermeasure to violate my members’ seniority is not contractual.”

The General Motors Fort Wayne assembly plant located in Roanoke, Indiana currently builds the Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, which share the T1 platform. The factory’s output is approximately 1,300 trucks per day.

George is an automotive journalist with soft spots for classic GM muscle cars, Corvettes, and Geo.

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Comments

  1. Let them go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GM is falling apart.

    Reply
  2. UAW aka Unemployed Auto Workers

    Reply
  3. The grand tradition of piss poor gm management continues!

    Reply
  4. I am glad the Local Union has taken the appropriate Union position! Gm will continue to take advantage of these temporary workers unless someone stands up for them. About 5 years ago and a couple of negotiations ago these workers never had a chance to be made permanent until the contract changed that. Local 2209 thank you for taking a stance to make these workers permanent!

    Reply
    1. I wonder how the temporary workers themselves fell about their plight. Maybe without a job just before the holidays …..

      Reply

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