Automakers Are Making Cars, but Virus Surge Puts That at Risk

Automakers Are Making Cars, but Virus Surge Puts That at Risk

Some workers are calling on the industry to shut down plants in states where virus cases have increased sharply in recent weeks.

Arriving for first shift at the Fiat Chrysler plant in Warren, Mich. Automakers are running almost all of their plants in the United States on two or three shifts.Credit...Carlos Osorio/Associated PressJuly 14, 2020, 9:24 a.m. ET

Automakers are back to building cars and trucks at full speed “” at least for now. But as coronavirus cases rise across much of the country, it may become difficult for the companies to keep at it.

This week, General Motors will lay off a third shift of workers “” about 1,250 people “” at its truck plant in Wentzville, Mo., where absenteeism has been rising because workers are concerned about the spread of the virus. Union workers at another G.M. plant in Texas, where hospitals have been inundated, have called on the company to shut down their factory.

The auto industry, which accounts for about 4 percent of the country's economic output, came to a near standstill in mid-March for nearly two months as the first wave of coronavirus cases spiked. Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor, General Motors, Honda, Toyota and other manufacturers are now running