General Motors on Wednesday idled operations at its Fairfax Assembly and Stamping plant in Kansas City, Kansas, due to parts shortages caused by an ongoing strike at GM’s Wentzville Assembly plant in Missouri.
GM’s Wentzville factory, which has over 4,100 employees, supplies the Fairfax Assembly plant with stamped body parts. The automaker assembles the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Cadillac XT4 SUV at Fairfax.
“It is unfortunate that the UAW leadership’s decision to call a strike at Wentzville Assembly has already had a negative ripple effect, with GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas being idled today and most of its represented team members leaving the plant as there is no work available," GM said in a statement to The Detroit News.
The UAW has been on strike since Sept. 14, when its contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis expired. The Fairfax Assembly shutdown may validate the UAW’s “stand-up” strike approach. Rather than carry out a full work stoppage, the UAW targeted specific facilities to disrupt manufacturing operations and allow the union to weather a longer strike as it pressures automakers to make a deal.
In a social media video Monday, UAW President Shawn Fain said that more of its members would go on strike this Friday at noon if it doesn’t make “substantial progress” towards an agreement with the Big Three.
GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
