In negotiations with the United Auto
Workers union, automakers are offering to
provide protective gear, frequently sanitize
equipment, and to take worker temperatures
to prevent anyone with a fever from entering
factories. These steps, they say, have worked
at repurposed factories now making
medical equipment.
Matt Himes, who installs SUV doors at a GM
plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, said he’s ready
to get back to work. But he also fears catching
the virus.
“I guess we all should worry about it, but you
can’t keep us closed down forever,” said Himes,
who added that it’s impossible to keep social
distance on his assembly line. “You work within 3
or 4 feet from everybody,” he said. “People right
across from you, people right beside you.”
In line with White House guidelines announced
last week, several states with Republican
governors have begun restoring access to public
spaces -- not just beaches and parks, but in
states like Georgia, hair salons, gyms, bowling
alleys, restaurants and movie theaters as well.
Health officials fear that such moves, if not
carefully planned, could fuel a second wave
of COVID-19 infections. Some companies that
never closed offer a cautionary tale: Meat-
packing plants across the Midwest have
reported hundreds of coronavirus cases among
their tightly quartered workforces. Several have
shuttered in an attempt to stem the spread.
Above all else, executives will need to be flexible,
said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor
at Stanford University. “You can have a set of
plans, but those plans are going to have to be