FLINT, MI -- The UAW is telling local union leaders to start discussions with General Motors plant managers across the country in anticipation that they will “resume production schedules in the near future.”

UAW GM Department Vice President and Director Terry Dittes gave the go-ahead in a letter Tuesday, April 21, to local union presidents, shop chairpersons, vice presidents, financial and recording secretaries.

“We are also encouraging you to start discussions based on your local agreements starting with how will our members be recalled,” Dittes wrote. "Discussions should be taking place now regarding safety protocols and the best way to protect our members and their families to stop the spread of (COVID-19) to others in our community when we return to work.

“These discussions should begin as soon as possible and our UAW-GM department staff representative and regional service representative should be included in all your discussions with the employer,” the message says.

GM announced March 18 that it was shutting down its manufacturing operations in North America due to market conditions, to deep clean facilities and to continue to protect people from the spread of coronavirus. The suspension in production was to last until at least March 30 and has been reevaluated week-to-week since.

Just last week, the company told employees in a mass message to expect new safety precautions when they return to work, including completion of a health questionnaire and temperature screening before re-entering plants. GM said in that message that the company expects workers will wear safety glasses and GM-provided, medical-grade masks and should expect new protocols for social distancing.

GM has factories in Ohio, New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Kansas, but its operations are most concentrated in Michigan, where the company has plants in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, Bay City, Orion, Brownstown Township, Romulus, Warren and Lansing.

Only parts plants like GM’s Customer Care and Aftersales facility in Burton, where four employees have tested positive for COVID-19, have continued to operate during the coronavirus emergency, as well as retooled plants in Kokomo, Indiana, where it is producing ventilators, and Warren, where it is manufacturing face masks.

GM spokesman Jim Cain said Wednesday, April 22, that the company has not announced a “firm date to resume production in North America.”

“We are evaluating the situation regularly,” Cain said in email to MLive-The Flint Journal. “When we do resume production, we will be following safety procedures developed to support ventilator and mask production, including extensive screening and cleaning, along with the use of masks,” Cain said.

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