Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
General Motors subsidiary employees at four Michigan plants have set a strike deadline for 10 a.m. Thursday if the automaker and the United Auto Workers cannot reach an agreement.
If the subsystem employees do walk off the job, the impact on production could be felt within hours, said a union leader who was not authorized to speak for the union so they spoke to the Detroit Free Press on the condition of anonymity.
"If they walk off it's going to affect the GM workers within hours," this person said. "I don't know if GM will have their supervisors run parts to the line. The subsystems people sequence the parts for the orders and when the line runs out those workers take them to the line."
According to the person, the subsystem workers who could strike are at the following plants:
Flint Assembly, represented by UAW Local 598. GM builds its top-selling and profitable heavy-duty pickups there.
Lansing Grand River Assembly, represented by Local 652 where GM builds Cadillac CT4, Cadillac CT4-V, Cadillac CT5, Cadillac CT5-V and Chevrolet Camaro.
Factory ZERO in Detroit and Hamtramck, represented by Local 22. GM makes the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup there and will start on the Hummer SUV.
Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, represented by Local 5960, which makes the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV.
"It could shut down production in a matter of hours depending on what GM's plan is," the person said. "That means it could idle the 500 workers at Lear and 300 to 400 at Flint Metal and ... 5,500 at Flint Assembly."
The subsystem workers have been working on a contract that expired more than a year ago and, "GM won't come to terms with a contract for them," the person said.
In a statement, GM spokesman Dan Flores said, "We are continuing to negotiate in good faith and we are hopeful we can reach an agreement that positions our team members and our business for success."
The UAW did not comment immediately.
Subsystem employees work for GM but are represented by a different contract that represents assembly line workers and skilled trades employees.
"This is GM, but they're (parts-expediting) people who fill the lines at the plants. It's like how we have outside sanitation," the person said.
That means the thousands of regular GM hourly workers represented by the UAW will have to keep workers in the event the subsystem people walk out.
In a letter dated Wednesday, UAW Vice President Terry Dittes wrote: "As a General Motors employee covered by Paragraph 117 of 2019 UAW-GM National Agreement, you must continue to report to work in the event of a strike by the Subsystems unit. In addition, you may not take part in the picketing that will accompany a strike."
The union person said crossing a picket line would be tough for many UAW members, but it is required.
"Our GM people will still be required to work; they have to cross the picket line," the person said. "The national agreement covers the workers who work for GM and what they would be striking for is the GM LLC, which is a different variant and the national agreement doesn't cover these people."
Update: A previous version of this story misidentified the local that was representing workers at Lansing Grand River assembly. That UAW Local is 652.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM subsidiary workers at Michigan plants prepare to strike
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