Hyperdrive
Auto Workers Nervously Punch the Clock After Two-Month Hiatus
- Carmakers restart U.S. plants with safety procedures in place
- Companies convinced a reluctant UAW they could reopen safely
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At Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s pickup plant north of Detroit, 1,200 workers weaved through chain-linked orange traffic tubes starting at 4 a.m. Monday, many of them anxious to do what they hadn’t in two months: punch in for their shift.
The automaker and its peers General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. resumed U.S. production after weeks of careful planning that managed to sway an apprehensive United Auto Workers union it was safe to do so. Their restart was sorely needed for an economy that’s suffered from overall U.S. factory production plummeting in April by the most in records dating back more than a century.