GM hasn’t had to shut down production at any point after the restart because of coronavirus, unlike its rivals Ford, who had to temporarily shut down two different plants. GM also wants you to know that it hasn’t had to shut down production, unlike its rivals Ford.
The Detroit Free Press published a story this morning detailing how GM was pulling it off, apparently thanks to lessons learned from its plants in South Korea. Which is great for GM and all, but we’re really here to talk about quotes from the GM spokesman in the story.
“We have not had an instance of community spread in one of our facilities to date, our production restart has gone smoothly and our health and safety protocols are working,” GM spokesman Jim Cain told the Free Press late Wednesday.
Much of that is probably true, sure.
On Thursday, Cain said GM learned that two workers at the Lockport Operations plant in Lockport, New York, tested positive for coronavirus after being exposed outside of work. One experienced symptoms at home and called in sick, Cain did not have details on the other.
But he said, there was no disruption to operations.
“We believe there is very little risk that anyone inside the plant has been exposed to the virus at work because everyone, including the individual, has been following our extensive, multilayered health and safety procedures, which include wearing masks, hand washing and sanitizing, temperature screening and physical distancing,” Cain said.
He added, “As of today, we have not had a confirmed case of virus transmission in our facilities since our coronavirus safety protocols have been in place.”
Multilayered procedures! You’ve got this Jim! Just try to resist gloating at the expense of Ford so you don’t come off as turning life-and-death matters into a pissing contest about production!
GM plants have hummed along, mostly on one shift, this week uninterrupted. But Cain added in a Thursday morning email to the Free Press, “You can’t go so far as to say no sick workers/exposed workers. Just no community spread. And nothing that has been so disruptive as happened at Ford.”
Goddammit, Jim.