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Volkswagen Chattanooga is closing its 3,800-employee plant on Saturday for a week, joining several other automakers in the nation in an effort to protect employees from COVID-19.
VW Chattanooga CEO Tom du Plessis said the plant's production shutdown is effective Saturday at 3:45 a.m., with current plans to resume Sunday, March 29, at 10 p.m.
He said the action is being taken to help ensure the health and safety of workers as VW conducts additional sanitation and cleaning procedures throughout the factory.
But the German automaker will offer full pay during the production shutdown period for all team members at the factory, du Plessis said. Employees who are able to telework, such as office staff, will do so, he said.
The move by VW and other automakers, including General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Nissan, to idle their U.S. factories also comes as vehicle sales have stalled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"We will also use this time to assess future production plans and market developments," du Plessis said.
Hyundai shut down its Alabama plant after a worker tested positive for the virus, according to the Associated Press.
According to VW, no one at the Chattanooga plant has tested positive for the coronavirus.
"We're asking all employees to self-quarantine and maintain social distancing as directed by the CDC," du Plessis said. "We will continue to monitor the situation and will take any and all additional steps as they become necessary, communicating updates as they are available. The health and safety of our team remains our highest priority."
In recent weeks, VW said it has taken the following precautionary steps:
- Implemented heightened sanitization and cleaning procedures throughout the factory as well as on its transportation shuttles
- Installed sanitation areas in high-traffic zones of the plant
- Provided all production, maintenance and production support staff with paid time off last Monday to plan and assess child care needs in response to school closures
- Postponed all events at the Volkswagen Academy and Conference Center
- Implemented social distancing procedures in business-critical training and postponed all non-critical training and classroom activities
- Closed general access to the on-site fitness center, and postponed all volunteer exercise classes
- Kept doors open as much as possible to limit contact
- Limited visitors to business-critical, and conducted safety screening questionnaires
- Prohibited all business-related travel, domestic and international
- Shared healthy best practices from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via internal communications channels
- Provided daily updates to all employees regarding company activities.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.