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One of the most powerful labor unions in the United States is furious, as over 1,000 workers at General Motors\u2019 leading Detroit factory are being pushed out to make room for dozens of new robots.<\/p>\n
According to Crain\u2019s Detroit Business<\/a>, the lack of work coincides with the installation of 50 AI-integrated manufacturing robots, which GM installed in its Factory Zero plant, a major all-electric vehicle facility in Detroit. When the industrial robots went online, the UAW says the factory idled the thousand-odd workers, a situation in which employees aren\u2019t allowed to work, but aren\u2019t fully fired either (as Crain\u2019s explains, the vast majority of these workers have functionally been laid off.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a concern when you see a robot coming to a plant, especially after they have laid off over a thousand people,\u201d UAW local 22 president James Cotton told Crain\u2019s. \u201cThey say it\u2019s the wave of the future, and if that\u2019s so, they\u2019re taking away jobs from people.\u201d<\/p>\n The 50 robo-arms \u2014 which GM euphemistically calls \u201ccobots,\u201d a style of robot designed to work alongside humans \u2014 are primarily being used to bolt body panels onto EVs, AutoBlog reported<\/a>. Designed by the firm Fanuc<\/a>, the cobots are built to operate at slower speeds, use less power, and contain more emergency-stop triggers than typical assembly-line robots.<\/p>\n Their installation comes after months of forced EV manufacturing slowdowns<\/a> in an effort to curb overproduction<\/a> \u2014 in other words, to keep the price of GM\u2019s electric vehicles artificially high. That timing suggests GM may be using Factory Zero as a testing grounds for the so-called cobots, which should come as alarming news for autoworkers in Detroit and beyond.<\/p>\n It also comes after some major wins for the UAW. Back in 2023, the 90-year old union secured major wins<\/a> for workers of the \u201cbig three\u201d auto companies Ford, GM, and Stellantis following a strike that lasted over a month. In this light, the massive layoffs can be seen as cost-cutting measures in order to circumvent those concessions and weaken the UAW\u2019s position ahead of some major 2028 contract negotiations<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur manpower is being taken away from us,\u201d Cotton told Crain\u2019s. \u201cFrom top to bottom, we\u2019re disgusted that they have cobots in our plants.\u201d <\/p>\n