Spring Hill GM Plant's eventual reopening ‘not going to be business as usual,’ says union chairman

The Spring Hill General Motors Plant, which employs more than 3,500 people and is the single largest GM facility in North America, has been effectively shut down since March 20, with only a handful of workers working on essential projects.

The plant shut down because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which saw Gov. Bill Lee issue a stay-at-home order and the shutdown of all non-essential businesses on April 2.

When the facility does eventually reopen, however, United Auto Workers  Chairman Mike Herron predicts things will be far from “business as usual,” with new safety measures likely being adopted that the company has never seen before in its more than 100 year history.

“The world is going to change”

“Prior to this whole thing, there was a policy of [coming] to work at all costs, and then we'll make that determination when you get there [as to] whether you should go home or not,” Herron said. “This is a situation where I think the world is going to change — the world has changed.”

Safety measures that may be implemented in the future, Herron speculated, could be as simple as requiring employees to wear face masks. More drastic possibilities, Herron said, could potentially involve the implementation of thermal imaging technology.

“This is not going to be business as usual when we come back,” Herron said. “This is going to be a situation where thermal imaging devices are probably going to be at the doors when people come in — that way you can tell if somebody's got a fever.”

“So the way that this would most likely work is you walk through the doors and you’ve got a temperature — that would tell you [to] go to medical. If you would have told me a year ago that that was a possibility, I would have told you there was no way in the world, but this is indicative of the times that we're in.”

Spring Hill GM Plant’s contribution to fighting the coronavirus pandemic

In late March, President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, compelling GM to produce ventilators and protective equipment — a move Herron criticized. Herron argued GM was already working on producing ventilators without government intervention.

But despite his criticisms, Herron said both he and his fellow GM employees would have been “glad to volunteer” their time and efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic by producing ventilators.

The Spring Hill Plant was not chosen as a site to produce ventilators and protective equipment — the Warren GM Plant in Michigan and the Kokomo Plant in Indiana were ultimately picked. But despite the Spring Hill Plant not being directly chosen to produce ventilators, it has been able to have a hand in helping the efforts of producing ventilators.

“Every plant in the country has been asked if they've got spare parts or equipment that could be used in the production [of ventilators], and Spring Hill has had both that we have sent to [the Warren and Kokomo plants], and so we're very proud of the team,” Herron said. “These things are very complicated, and this is a business that is truly needed in this country right now, and one that I don't think is going to go away any time soon.”

Save for around 60 employees, all of Spring Hill GM’s 3,808 employees have been furloughed for the time being. Those who have at least a year of working with GM will still receive a portion of their pay, with all employees being advised to file for unemployment. Despite the current hardships, Herron said that GM has every intention of keeping every one of its furloughed employees at Spring Hill.

“In our business, there's something called an indefinite layoff — this is not an indefinite layoff, with every intent of bringing back the workers that we have,” Herron said. “There is no intent to get rid of anybody. Now, longer term, my prayers are that this economy snaps back and everybody gets back to work, because people that are out of work don't buy cars.”