GM in São José dos Campos suspends production shift due to lack of parts

The General Motos plant in São José dos Campos (90 km from São Paulo) will stop the second production shift of the S10 pickup from November 8th. The suspension of work is necessary due to the worldwide shortage of semiconductors and will be done through a lay-off (temporary suspension of employment contracts).

GM’s proposal was approved at a meeting held this Friday (29) in the company’s yard. According to the Metallurgists Union of São José dos Campos, the contracts of around 700 workers will be suspended for a period of two to five months.

In the lay-off, the company maintains the FGTS (Guarantee Fund for Employees) payments and can pay a supplement without a salary nature. Part of the salaries is paid with resources from the FAT (Workers’ Support Fund).

The agreement signed between the automaker and the metallurgists provides that workers will continue to receive the amount corresponding to their net wages – that is, combined with the complement and the FAT resource, they will still have the same current remuneration.

During the suspension period, lay-off metallurgists cannot be dismissed. Job stability was at the center of the negotiations between the union and GM.

According to the organization that represents the workers, the company also committed to employ 300 people who had temporary contracts and who would be laid off in the coming months.

“Without this achievement, there would certainly be layoffs at the factory. In the face of the crisis, every negotiation must be conditioned to the stability of jobs,” said the vice president of the Union, Valmir Mariano, in a statement.

The GM plant in São José has around 3,800 workers. In addition to the S10, the unit also produces the Trailblazer model.

The automotive industry is one of the most affected by the semiconductor chip crisis. The production of these small parts has been affected by a sequence of disruptions since the beginning of the pandemic. There was an increase in demand, with more people buying products such as tablets and computers.

At the same time, production, which came to a halt at the beginning of the health crisis, was unable to grow at the same speed.

In Brazil, since the beginning of 2021, several assemblers needed to use collective vacations, paid leaves and hour banks to adapt production to the availability of components. In the industry, the expectation is that the supply will only be solved from the second quarter of 2022.

GM says, in a statement, that the lay-off will protect jobs and the sustainability of the business. “The automotive industry’s supply chain has been impacted globally by production stoppages during the pandemic and the faster-than-expected market recovery.”