About 485 workers at Marion's General Motors plant
will be temporarily laid off beginning Monday, said John Pence, UAW Local 977
president.
That number constitutes about 43 percent of the 1,120 UAW
members at the Marion plant.
Pence said layoffs were determined by
seniority and the job in which the worker was employed.
The plant will
remain closed during second shift next week, Pence said. Workers eligible to
stay on the job will be moved to the first or third shift. Those moves also are
based on seniority, he said.
The plant was closed on second shift this
week, with the work force on that shift temporarily off. GM management notified
the UAW on Wednesday afternoon of the pending layoffs.
These GM layoffs
in Marion and at 26 other plants across North America have been a ripple effect
from an ongoing labor dispute at American Axle & Manufacturing, one of
GM's leading suppliers. As GM has run out of parts, the work stoppages have
spread.
UAW workers went on strike at the parts supplier Feb. 27.
Negotiations continue, but it is unclear to outsiders whether progress is being
made.
"We support the American Axle strike," Pence said. "We don't think
what they're trying to do to (the UAW) is right. But no one (at GM) likes being
laid off."
The GM workers will remain idled until a few days after the
American Axle strike is settled, Pence said.
Laid-off workers are
eligible to collect unemployment benefits and money from a sub fund run by GM
that compensates workers up to 85 percent of regular wages.
Many UAW
members leaving the GM plant at the end of first shift Friday did not want to
talk about the strike. Those who did declared solidarity with their brethren at
American Axle.
"I agree with what they're standing for," Tom Leas said.
"I think most people who work here do."
Leas is a 23-year UAW member who
is not affected by this round of layoffs but suspects he would be if another
round of cuts is enacted. He hopes the strike at American Axle is resolved soon
and hopes it doesn't harm GM in the long run but sympathizes with the striking
workers.
"In bad times, you've got to stand for something," he
said.
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