WENTZVILLE, Mo. — General Motors officials announced today they are idling the GM Wentzville plant for two weeks, starting March 29. The move will affect more than 3,500 employees in the St. Charles County facility.
That makes it one of seven plants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Korea to be affected by the global semiconductor shortage. Wentzville G.M. workers assemble the Chevrolet Colorado and the GMC Canyon mid-size trucks, and the Savannah van.
“We didn’t know it was coming,” said Fred Jamison, the president of United Auto Workers Local 2250. “Employees will be getting unemployment, and those with seniority will be getting union benefits from supplemental income that the union negotiated for us.”
Wentzville Mayor Nick Guccione said, “This is the biggest employer in Wentzville, so it’s always a little concerning when they do have a shut-down.”
Guccione says Wentzville helped build General Motors.
“We’re very blessed to have them here in Wentzville,” he said, “and to continue to have them grow and expand. They’ve expanded multiple times and hired more employees.”
A shut-down of this nature is also likely to impact businesses around a plant of this size. Not just parts suppliers, but businesses that serve the employees, as well.
One of those businesses is Duke’s BBQ. There, G.M. employees are no strangers.
“We do a lot of catering for them,” said Duke’s employee Mackenzie Shepard. “So that is a bummer, and a lot of them come in before and after their shifts or during their breaks, so that is another thing we lose out on.”
Shepard was asked if Duke’s sees G.M. employees every day.
“Yes, we have a lot of regulars, that’s for sure,” she said.
The Wentzville plant is one of G.M.’s largest, according to information provided by the company:
Assembly Plant Information:
- Fairfax (Kansas) builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac XT4
- CAMI (Ingersoll, Ontario) builds the Chevrolet Equinox
- San Luis Potosi (Mexico) builds the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain [and Onyx]
- Gravatai (Brazil) builds the Chevrolet Onix
- Bupyeong, (Korea) 2 builds the Chevrolet Trax, Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Encore
- Lansing (Michigan) Grand River builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Cadillac CT4 and CT5.
- Wentzville (Missouri): builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon
Impacted Employees:
- Fairfax (Kansas): 2,000 employees
- CAMI (Ingersoll, Ontario): 1,500 employees
- San Luis Potosi (Mexico): 4,100 employees
- Gravatai (Brazil): 2,400 employees
- Lansing (Michigan) Grand River: 1,400 employees.
- Wentzville (Missouri): 3,500
In a statement, GM officials said their intent is to make up as much production lost at the temporarily-idled plants, as possible.