UAW holds 'vigil for our families' at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant

DETROIT – It's a somber holiday season for the thousands of General Motors workers who could possibly lose their jobs.

There is expected to be 664 job cuts at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant. Thursday afternoon a crowd gathered for what the UAW called a "vigil for our families."

Workers decided to gather the day before the holiday shut down to try and lift each other's spirits with a rally.

A local choir added hymns to the rally and workers hugged and shed tears thinking about their uncertain future. They rallied inside the assembly plant grounds and the media was not allowed inside.

"Everybody kind of thought we were going to be getting a new vehicle so when we found out the plant was going to be unallocated it kind of was a shock to everybody," Renee Dixon, with the UAW, said.

There are four vehicles on the plant line. They are the Impala, Volt, CT-6 and Lacrosse, and none of them are selling well.

General Motors said it can't make enough trucks and has 1,000 jobs available that workers could apply for.

Watch the video above for Rod Meloni's full story.


About the Authors:

Rod Meloni is an Emmy Award-winning Business Editor on Local 4 News and a Certified Financial Plannerâ„¢ Professional.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.