WENTZVILLE, MO (KMOX) - There's concern at the Wentzville General Motors Plant after a handful of workers tested positive for coronavirus.
"When I woke up Monday morning I had an email that we had one confirmed case," says UAW Local 2250 President Glenn Kage, "when I went to bed (Wednesday) night, we had five."
Kage says three cases are from the body shop, one is from the fluid fill and one is from trim. Kage expressed some relief that the cases are spread out in the 100-acre plant, but he says workers are worried.
"We do have concerns about it starting to grow and becoming an issue," Kage says.
They're so concerned, Kage says, the union's unit chairman asked the company to shut down the plant for 14 days for a deep cleaning.
"Management did not heed his concerns," Kage says. "So, we're going to watch it and if it continues to get bad we'll go from requesting to the point where we start demanding, for the safety of our members, shut down and do a deep cleaning."
One frustration for Kage and the workers is that GM isn't saying much about those who tested positive.
"General Motors is playing their cards pretty close to their chest in regards to all this," Kage says. "The HIPA law plays into it quite a bit as well."
He says it'd be a lot easier of the company told the workers exactly what was happening and how it was being handled.
"My understanding is that they (the infected employees) are not working," Kage says.
He does not know if they were asymptomatic.
He says GM has been taking precautions, including providing new surgical masks for every employee every day, and keeping workers socially distanced when possible. However, it's not always possible.
"When they're on the lines working there's a lot areas where they're shoulder-to-shoulder," Kage says. "Our members have concerns they may don't know who around them may or may not be infected with coronavirus."