GM Adds 50 Robots to Flagship EV Plant While 1,300 Workers Remain Laid Off

General Motors has installed about 50 new robot arms at its Factory Zero electric vehicle plant in Detroit, made by Japanese robotics company FANUC, even as 1,300 workers who were laid off in March remain out of work. The union, United Auto Workers (UAW), has reacted with anger, with local president James Cotton stating that over 1,000 members are still indefinitely laid off and that GM could have rehired them instead of deploying the robots. The move intensifies the ongoing conflict between automakers and workers over the increasing use of automation in manufacturing.