Companies have had to make many tough staffing decisions during the global coronavirus pandemic as many have seen demand for their services or products vanish overnight, or their business have been caught up in large-scale lockdowns intended to slow the spread of the disease.
As part of that scaling back, GE Aviation laid off 2,600 workers from its idle factories.
However, those laid off workers would much rather be on the production line helping to save lives, and they’ve demanded that the company put them back to work making ventilators, Vice reported.
In a pair of protests, workers at a jet engine manufacturing facility in Lynn, Massachusetts and at the Boston HQ all stood six feet apart as they called upon the company to put their skills to use in the COVID-19 fight.
In a press conference, representatives for the workers noted that both they and the factory space are available.
IUE-CWA Local 86004 President Jake Aguanaga pointed out that 52% of the workforce at his Arkansas City, Kansas plant had been laid off and “this work is right up our alley,” with machinists, electricians, programmers, testers, and welders, as well as “several football fields” of idle factories just waiting to be put to use.
“If GE trusts us to build, maintain, and test engines which go on a variety of aircraft where millions of lives are at stake, why wouldn’t they trust us to build ventilators?” he asked.
And those ventilators are sorely needed, as soon as possible.
“Ventilators are desperately needed at hospitals in New York, California, Washington State, and Florida. They soon will be in short supply from the East Coast to the West Coast, from Puerto Rico to Hawaii, from Alaska and Illinois to Texas,” CWA President Chris Shelton said.
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“Most Americans are not aware that the best ventilators are already made by General Electric within the company’s healthcare division.
“Our country depends on these highly skilled workers and now they’re wondering why they are facing layoffs instead of having the opportunity to use their unbelievable skills to help save lives.”
Because GE Healthcare already makes ventilators, and is indeed one of the country’s largest ventilator manufacturers, the GE Aviation workers believe it would make sense to convert the aviation arm to making ventilators as well.
And GE has made increased ventilator production a priority amid nationwide shortages. Production at GE Healthcare’s Madison, Wisconsin plant has increased, and the company announced a partnership with Ford specifically to produce more ventilators. The company expects to produce 1,500 new ventilators in April, scaling up to 12,000 by the end of May and 50,000 by the end of July, with a goal of producing 30,000 per month.
“GE is working around the clock to increase production of much-needed medical equipment,” a spokesperson told Vice. “We continue to explore additional opportunities to support the fight against COVID-19, while continuing to support mission-critical work for our customers as well.”
It’s unclear at the moment whether GE will bend to the aviation workers’ demands.
But the workers say they’re staying ready. “The crisis we face with the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. It requires us—all of us—to work for the common good and save lives,” Shelton said.
“But at a time when our country is depending on skilled workers to make essential products like ventilators, our members are left wondering why they are facing layoffs instead of having the opportunity to use their skills to help save lives.
“We challenge GE to partner with our members and the management of its own Aviation and Electronic Lighting divisions to convert some of its unused capacity to alleviate our critical national shortage of life-saving ventilators.”
h/t: Vice , Gizmodo , Common Dreams
