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Auto workers strike could shut down the Fairfax GM plant in Kansas City, Kansas, this week

General Motors says the strike that shut down the Wentzville plant near St. Louis means there may not be enough parts to assemble cars in Kansas City, Kansas.

The United Auto Workers strike that has shut down three plants across the country, including the General Motors plant in Wentzville, Missouri, could halt car assembly at the Fairfax GM plant in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Detroit News reported GM alerted workers last week to the possible shutdown at Fairfax. That plant could run out of parts this week because of the strike at Wentzville in suburban St. Louis.

“It is unfortunate that the UAW leadership’s decision to call a strike at Wentzville Assembly has already had a negative ripple effect, with GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas," the company said in a statement.

There are some 2,200 workers at the Fairfax Plant who make the Cadillac XT4 SUV and the Chevrolet Malibu, according to the company.

The other big auto plant in the metro, the Ford Assembly plant in Claycomo, is currently unaffected. It makes the Ford F-150 pickup truck and Transit and E-Transit vans and has 6,900 hourly workers.

About 13,000 UAW workers are striking at three plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, targeting all three big automakers. The union wants a 40% pay boost over the next four years. The companies have countered with about half that.

Copyright 2023 KCUR 89.3. To see more, visit KCUR 89.3.

Sam grew up in Overland Park and was educated at the University of Kansas. After working in Philadelphia where he covered organized crime, politics and political corruption he moved on to TV news management jobs in Minneapolis and St. Louis. Sam came home in 2013 and covered health care and education at KCPT. He came to work at KCUR in 2014. Sam has a national news and documentary Emmy for an investigation into the federal Bureau of Prisons and how it puts unescorted inmates on Grayhound and Trailways buses to move them to different prisons. Sam has one son and is pretty good in the kitchen.