U.S. auto industry workers return to jobs amid concerns of second virus
wave
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[May 12, 2020]
By Ben Klayman
DETROIT (Reuters) - Factory workers began
returning to assembly lines in Michigan on Monday, paving the way to
reopen the U.S. auto sector but stoking fears of a second wave of
coronavirus infections as strict lockdowns are eased across the country.
With millions of Americans out of work and much of the economy at a
virtual standstill, a growing number of states are relaxing tough
restrictions on commerce and social life put in place to slow the
outbreak.
Some auto suppliers in Michigan, a Midwest industrial powerhouse hard
hit by the pandemic and its economic fallout, reopened plants on Monday
with skeleton crews to get ready for a resumption of vehicle production
next week.
Skilled-trades workers and salaried employees also began returning to
auto assembly plants to prepare for the wider restart.
"We're starting up our foundry this week in anticipation of the orders
coming in next week," Joe Perkins, chief executive of Busche Performance
Group, an engineering, casting and machining firm, said in a telephone
interview.
Factory workers will be issued face masks, checked for fever and
required to submit health-screening questionnaires.
"All of that's ready to go," Perkins said. "The big question is are
people going to be buying cars and trucks."
MUSK DEFIES LOCKDOWN
The manufacturing reopening approved last week by Governor Gretchen
Whitmer was crucial not only to auto plants in Michigan but to vehicle
production elsewhere because so many key parts suppliers are based in
and around the automaking hub of Detroit.
Detroit's Big Three automakers – General Motors Co <GM.N>, Ford Motor Co
<F.N> and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV <FCHA.MI><FCAU.N> - said last
week they planned to restart production at North American plants on May
18. The target date was set after tacit approval from the powerful
United Auto Workers union, which previously opposed a May restart as
"too soon and too risky."
Ford said it had adopted safety protocols from China, where car
production resumed in late February, including personal protective
garments on assembly lines, barriers separating employees clustered
together and heavily sanitized work areas.
Much is at stake. The auto sector accounts for 6% of U.S. economic
output and employs more than 835,000 Americans.
A small but high-profile sector of the U.S. auto industry became a
flashpoint in California on Monday as Elon Musk, chief executive of
electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA.O>, defied local health officials and
restarted his factory outside San Francisco.
California Governor Gavin Newsom had given the OK for manufacturing to
reopen statewide on Friday, but Alameda County's more stringent lockdown
orders barring factory operations for another week supersede Newsom's
authority. Musk, who had threatened to move his plant to another state
unless officials relented, said on Twitter that production resumed on
Monday, adding he would join workers on the assembly line. "If anyone is
arrested, I ask that it only be me," he wrote.
U.S. DEATH TOLL CLIMBING
Moves to loosen the clampdown have played out even as the number of
lives lost continues to rise. Well over 80,000 people in the United
States have died in the pandemic out of more than 1.35 million known
U.S. infections reported since Jan. 20, according to a Reuters tally.
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A woman wearing protective coverings speaks on the phone, amid the
outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Detroit,
Michigan, U.S., May 6, 2020. REUTERS/Emily Elconin
Ohio, another industrial state and key player in the U.S. auto
industry, reopened its manufacturing last week and said most retail
shops could welcome customers back on Tuesday.
Even New York, epicenter of the U.S. crisis, was set to ease some
rules, permitting certain low-risk activities like landscaping,
tennis courts and drive-in theaters to reopen this weekend in rural
areas.
"We took the worst situation in the nation and changed the
trajectory," Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
Pressure to loosen business constraints has mounted under a rapidly
deteriorating economic outlook. The pandemic has put more Americans
out of work than at any time since the Great Depression of the
1930s, prompting Congress to pass trillions of dollars in emergency
relief.
MASKS AT WHITE HOUSE
Republican President Donald Trump, accused by Democrats of playing
down and mishandling the outbreak, has pushed to swiftly reopen the
economy, seen as key to his re-election bid on Nov. 3.
In a tweet, Trump on Monday again accused Democrats of taking their
time lifting restrictions to embarrass him, a charge they have
denied.
Public health experts have warned that moving too quickly to reopen,
without vastly expanded diagnostic testing and other precautions
firmly in place, risks fueling a resurgence of the virus. Polling
shows a majority of Americans also concerned.
While permitting a return to manufacturing, Whitmer maintained an
order requiring residents to remain mostly indoors when not at work.
"We've got to remember that continuing to stay home ... is the key
to helping us lower the chance of a second wave," the Democratic
governor said.
Separately, the White House directed its staff to wear masks at all
times in the building, except when at their own desks, a senior
administration official said. Trump's valet and Vice President Mike
Pence's spokeswoman both tested positive for the coronavirus last
week.
The White House situation has had ramifications far beyond the
nation's capital. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was following a
modified self-quarantine because of possible coronavirus exposure
during a White House visit and meetings in Iowa with Pence last
week.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was working from home after a senior
staff member tested positive last week. Pritzker tested negative on
Sunday, according to his office.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit, Maria Caspani in New York,
Doina Chiacu and Lisa Lamber in Washington and Nathan Layne in
Wilton, Connecticut; Writing by Steve Gorman and Paul Simao; Editing
by Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Peter Cooney)
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