After a nearly three-day strike, the union that represents some 500 workers at a Lear factory in Missouri has reached a tentative agreement with the company, ending the strike and allowing General Motors to resume production of its midsize pickups and cargo vans.þþGM was forced to idle its nearby Wentzville Assembly plant in Missouri on Monday because the workers at the Lear Wentzville facility, which supplies the seats for GM's midsize pickups and vans, went on strike at midnight Sunday. That was when their contract expired and they had not reached a new tentative agreement with the company.þþThe Lear facility produces the seats as part of a just-in-time production system at GM's Wentzville plant. That means Lear makes the exact number of seats GM needs at the exact time GM needs it, with very little kept in inventory. So without the seats being produced, GM had to stop the assembly line and send some 4,600 workers home until Thursday.þþGM spokesman Kevin Kelly confirmed that Wentzville restarted operations Thursday morning.þþÿOur supplier has reached a tentative agreement, and our focus is to resume regular production as quickly as possible for the good of our customers,ÿ Kelly said in a statement.þþLear spokesman Brian Corbett told the Free Press, “We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW at our Wentzville facility. We are focused on resuming normal operations.”þþDuring Lear Corp.'s second-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts Thursday, CEO Ray Scott said the tentative agreement was reached ÿand we’re hoping to get it ratified sometime in the near future here. We'll work closely with the UAW. As far as any information, we’ll continue to work with the team on the ground. They’re back to building vehicles this morning and we couldn’t be more happy for GM and our employees down in Wentzville.”þþCFO Jason Cardew said the financial impact of the strike is included in Lear's adjusted guidance for 2024. That guidance is based partly on global customer production estimates, but factors in the estimated strike impact. For the full year, Lear's restructuring costs are expected to be $25 million more than its previous forecast, coming in at $150 million. But its capital expenditure will be $650 million, down from the previous forecast of $675 million. Lear estimates its full-year adjusted pretax income to be $18 billion to $19 billion, up from an earlier forecast of $17 billion to $18 billion.þþUAW Local 282, which represents the Lear Wentzville workforce, reached the tentative agreement late Wednesday and finalized it in the early morning hours, during which time Lear strikers returned to work, UAW Local 282 President Bill Hugeback told the Free Press on Thursday.þþHugeback said the first shift was operating at the Lear facility Thursday but, “it’s probably going to take a little while to catch back up on production.”
Source: freep.com
