GM is putting robots at its flagship EV factory after laying off 1,300 workers

More robotic arms have been installed at General Motors’ Detroit electric power plant – even as 1,300 workers remain out of work following temporary layoffs. The latest push has fueled a collective bargaining agreement over potential problems for automakers and their workers.

General Motors has installed about 50 robotic arms at GM’s Factory Zero plant in Detroit, Michigan, according to reports Crain’s Detroit Business. Developed by the Japanese company FANUC, these robots are designed to help connect various components to vehicles during assembly. But leaders at the United Auto Workers (UAW), the United States’ primary union of autoworkers, were outraged by the new robotics presence, as GM has not reinstated any of the workers it says has been affected. temporary layoff in March.

More than 1,000 union members remain “indefinitely out of a job,” James Cotton, president of UAW Local 22, said. Detroit news. He said that the company could bring back some of the members instead of installing the 50 robots.

Temporary layoff was followed by permanent dismissal plus another 1,200 workers at GM’s Factory Zero in October 2025.

Many automakers, including Stellantis NV and Ford Motor CompanyThey have imported integrated robots, such as Fanuc robotics, as they push to make more of their jobs in the US. Hyundai Motor Company plans to ship Atlas humanoid robots designed by Boston Dynamics-which Hyundai bought in 2020 start working in the automaker’s EV production facilities in Georgia by 2028.

Andrew Bergman, a member of Local 22 and a union organizer who was among those fired by GM, described corporate leaders in the auto industry as putting profits ahead of workers.

“Technological advances have the potential to make work safer for workers and allow workers to have a shorter work week without losing wages,” Bergman told The Detroit News. “But in the hands of the bosses, billions are used to make profits and get rid of workers.”

The Detroit News reviewed how corporate leaders and employees shared “different messages” about AI, robots, and automation at separate conferences held in Detroit that same week in June.

When a Reindustrialize Summit had an introductory speech about how robots can help “power our industries with human-powered manufacturing,” the UAW Constitutional Convention pointed out the UAW President Shawn Fain’s warning against the “threat of humanoid robotics and automation” that is destroying jobs and workers’ wages at a time when the economy is booming.