MADISON, Wis. — More than 90 employees at General Electric Datex-Ohmeda in Madison were laid off on Friday, January 15, the second round of layoffs following a decrease in production of ventilators and anesthesia machines. Friday’s layoffs followed a round of more than 50 employees laid off in December 2020, according to a press release from the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union.
The Madison plant ramped up hiring efforts last spring to increase ventilator production after General Electric received a $336 million contract under the Defense Production Act in April 2020 to produce 50,000 ventilators by June 13, 2020. Vice President Mike Pence visited the Madison plant last April to highlight the increased production.
IAM Local 1406, IAM District 10 and GE Datex-Ohmeda negotiated a one-year emergency contract extension in March last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed GE salary and production employees to work alongside each other for a few months to meet global production needs, the union said. The ongoing medical equipment need resulted in additional hires throughout the year.
“The union worked hard during this pandemic and was quickly able to train their union brothers and sisters in an effort to increase production as quickly as possible,” Alex Hoekstra said in a statement, Directing Business Representative for IAM District 10. “I hope the company continues to invest in the facility and employees. The hard working members impacted by the layoff deserve to return to a quality job.”
Laid off employees will retain up to two-year call back rights under the current collective bargaining agreement.
This article will be updated.
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