As automakers and suppliers talk about restarting production, the name of Travis Watkins keeps coming up.
Watkins was a UAW representative employed as a skilled tradesman at Caravan, an independent contractor responsible for cleaning at the General Motors Holding Co. plant in Grand Rapids, MI.
In March, as the coronavirus pandemic was gaining momentum, he was fired after claiming in a private Facebook post only open to members of his UAW unit that he didn’t believe Caravan, and by extension GM, was taking seriously enough the threat posed by COVID-19.
Watkins took to Facebook, according to documents filed in his grievance case, after spotting two employees being removed from the plant ostensibly for testing. Caravan maintains Watkins’ post violated federal privacy laws regarding medical issues because it named names.
Union spokesman Brian Rothenberg says of Watkins, “We are trying to get his job back.”
However, UAW activists maintain the case demonstrates that neither union leadership nor the companies now shuttered are showing appropriate concern about the virus. Watkins’ case has been widely discussed on social media, which are major sources of information and discussion for idled workers.
“We don’t want to hear about another company union committee appointed to decide our health and safety in a Board Room…We don’t want to hear Brother Watkins has to dangle in the air of indecision over workers’ rights to control working conditions…We don’t want more weak excuses,” the Autoworkers Caravan says on its website.
One of the oldest and most influential activist groups, the Caravan has successfully used social media to push for changes in union practices and policy.
Rothenberg insists the UAW is extremely worried about COVID-19 and its threat to workers. More than 20 union members have died of the virus and perhaps as many as a third of the 140,000 blue-collar workers employed by GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler are in their 50s and thus potentially more vulnerable.
The Detroit 3’s U.S. plants have been shut down for more than a month, although a few are producing ventilators and personal protective equipment to assist in fighting the pandemic. The automakers have indicated they hope to resume at least some vehicle production in May.
Furloughed union members are eligible for unemployment and supplemental unemployment benefits pay equal to about 75% of their regular take-home pay.
So far, the union has declined to put its stamp of approval on the automakers’ reopening plans.
“Members of the Auto Coronavirus Task Force have been working daily on best practices for the health and safety of UAW Ford, General Motors and FCA members,” the union says in a statement.
“President (Rory) Gamble, the three UAW vice presidents and the leadership of Ford, GM and FCA are together working on putting the highest standards of safety in place, and following (Centers for Disease Control) and (World Health Organization) protocols as well as enhanced protections that will ensure confidence of members working in a comfortable and safe environment.”
The Autoworkers’ Caravan is taking a harder line: “We demand that FCA, GM, Ford and Independent Parts Suppliers keep all plants closed until they are prepared to regularly test and provide N95 respirators. We also demand slower line speed to allow for greater distancing, paid cleanup time for disinfecting workstations and more hand washing stations on the line.”
Body shops and paint shops across the industry are highly automated. But workers crowd in on the final assembly lines (above, left) where manufacturers require more of a human touch to build features and character into vehicles more laden than ever with technology.
GM spokesman Dan Flores says the automaker already has implemented many changes at the Kokomo, IN, plant staffed by UAW volunteers making medical ventilators.
Employees’ temperatures are checked before every shift and they are required to wipe down their workstations. Employees also enter and leave by different doors to avoid encountering employees on the next shift.
Federal health officials estimated in early April that more than 300,000 Americans could die from COVID-19 if all social distancing measures are abandoned, and later estimates have pushed the possible death toll even higher, according to documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.
Carla Bailo, head of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, says the industry’s response to COVID-19 will require innovation, but it also presents an opportunity to make changes that could benefit manufacturers long after the pandemic subsides.
