The United Auto Workers union is throwing a wrench into any thoughts by Detroit automakers of restarting factories soon.

Union President Rory Gamble says an early May restart date is too soon and too risky for union members. His statement Thursday comes as other automakers announced plans to restart their North American factories, which have been closed for more than a month to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The pandemic, meanwhile, is altering retail in ways that are obvious only in hindsight. It has changed priorities, shifted habits and rattled the sector to its core. Hershey is selling a lot more baking supplies but a lot less gum.

WANE 15 reached out to General Motors Fort Wayne Assembly about preparations for a potential return. They responded with the following statement:

“A lot of planning is underway to safely restart production and we are in regular contact with our suppliers, the UAW and our manufacturing team.

This includes notifying a small number of team members, primarily salaried and skilled trades employees, that we may need them to report to work soon. But we have not announced a restart date. When people do return to work, whether for planning or for regular production, we will be using screening, cleaning and social strategies at all our facilities that were designed using the best medical and scientific data available, including guidance from the CDC.“