General Motors had only a few months to recover from the 40-day UAW strike last fall before the coronavirus outbreak forced another production stoppage that has lasted even longer.
Shortly after shutting down its North American plants in late March, GM began exploring ways to use its manufacturing capabilities for medical supplies. It partnered with Ventec Life Systems, a ventilator manufacturer based near Seattle, and it received an order for 30,000 ventilators from the federal government after President Donald Trump activated the Defense Production Act.
GM converted a parts plant in Kokomo, Ind., for ventilator production and last week said it was hiring more than 1,000 full-time and part-time workers to meet demand. The plant currently is staffed by several hundred GM workers who asked to help in the effort.
Other GM workers are making face masks, shields, gowns and other personal protective equipment at an idled transmission plant and the technical center in Warren, Mich. GM has so far shipped upwards of 600,000 face masks to Michigan hospitals and other essential businesses.
