GM plant does switcheroo: next week, night shift on
General Motors said Friday that its Arlington assembly plant will continue to operate one shift per day next week, due to continuing parts shortages and high inventories of unsold vehicles.
But the Arlington workers will spread the downtime around. This week, the day shift worked and the night shift was off. Next week, the evening shift will work and the day shift will be laid off, said Wendi Sabo, spokeswoman for the plant.
Faced with a double whammy of limited parts supplies and slow sales of the trucks the Arlington plant builds, GM suspended production April 14. The plant re-opened May 1 at half the normal capacity.
The Arlington plant employs about 2,600 people total, including about 1,200 production workers on each shift. Workers laid off because of the plant shutdown continue to receive a majority of their normal weekly pay under terms of the United Auto Workers union contract with GM.
A strike by the UAW against American Axle plants has left GM with short supplies of axles and other key parts for many of its plants.
GM has been dividing its axle supply for full-size pickups and sport utility vehicles among several plants. Arlington got axles for several weeks, and then GM shifted those supplies to other plants.
But GM also has heavy inventories of unsold trucks, including the full-size sport utility vehicles built in Arlington. The company announced plans Monday to curtail production at four other assembly plants that produce pickups and SUVs.
As of April 1, GM had a 110-day supply of Chevy Tahoes and Suburbans, 146 days of GMC Yukons and 97 days of Cadillac Escalades, all built in Arlington.
Sales of large trucks have slowed dramatically recently.
BOB COX, 817-390-7723
