Ever get the feeling that you’re spending more time at work than you do at home? Then spare a thought for GM’s workers in China who aren’t going home at all. They are literally sleeping on their factory’s floor.
Staff at General Motors’ facility in Shanghai have been asked to sleep in the factory to allow the plant to remain open while complying with current COVID lockdown regulations. According to a report by Reuters, workers sleep, live and work in the plant, and are completely isolated from the rest of society to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus, much like staff at the Winter Olympics in Beijing were earlier in the year.
Shanghai’s lockdown rules have caused problems for several automakers and industry suppliers, including Tesla, which has a history of flouting U.S. pandemic rules, but this week suspended production for four days having been unable to achieve the same closed-loop solution as GM.
The Shanghai factory is part of a joint venture between GM and China’s SAIC, and currently builds Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac cars from its site east of the city’s Huangpu river. When Autonews asked GM to comment on the report, which originated from information from two people with knowledge of the situation, the company declined to comment, saying only that the factory was producing vehicles at a normal rate.
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The spike in virus cases across China also looks likely to force organisers of the 2022 Beijing Auto Show to cancel next month’s event. The show was due to start on April 21, and while there’s been no official confirmation that pans have changed, Auto News China reported that it could be pushed back to June.
That could cause a small headache for several manufactures who were hoping to reveal some crucial new cars in Beijing this spring. Mercedes-Benz had earmarked the reveal of the new EQS SUV for the show and BMW was readying its latest 7-Series.
Would you be willing to sleep at work if your boss asked you to do it to keep his business open in the face of COVID restrictions? Leave a comment and let us know.