General Motors has gutted its electric-vehicle ambitions and killed more than 1,000 jobs at its flagship Detroit assembly plant — replacing those workers with 50 robots and sparking outrage from labor unions.
The replacement “collaborative robots,” or “cobots,” have been installed on the assembly line at GM’s Factory Zero plant in Michigan amid a sharply reduced demand for its EV models and the ensuing push to cut costs, reports said.
The machines are now working alongside the remaining humans there who attach the body panels to vehicles as they move down the track, according to AutoBlog.
The automaker insists the cobots are necessary at the Detroit-Hamtramck electric-truck plant to stay competitive while improving “safety and ergonomics” for the workers, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.
“We’ve been installing cobots across our manufacturing footprint as part of a broader push to bring more advanced technology into our operations,” spokesman Kevin Kelly said.
“At Factory ZERO, we are implementing them alongside our team — helping improve safety and ergonomics, while keeping our operations flexible and competitive.”
But United Auto Workers Local 22 President James Cotton isn’t buying it, saying the machines are simply a cost-cutting measure that is taking jobs from his union members.
“Our manpower is being taken away from us,” Cotton said, according to Crains.
“From top to bottom, we’re disgusted that they have cobots in our plants,” he said.
The number of labor hours required to produce a car has declined 50% to 70% since the 1980s, Crains reported.
But that hasn’t stopped UAW wages from going up. The union was able to make historic wage gains in 2023, and the union will likely seek stronger protections in its upcoming 2028 contract negotiations, the outlet said.
Cotton said that despite the company’s claim of the technology making conditions safer, he has safety concerns with robots working next to humans and that the union has since filed grievances against GM over the cobots.
The cobots arrived as GM is getting hammered by slowing EV demand — largely because of the costs, according to AAA — with the automaker pausing production at Factory Zero multiple times over the past year.
In response to GM’s heavy automation push and cobot installation, UAW President Shawn Fain said workers are “in a fight for humanity,” reported the News Tribune.
“The fruits of our labor have multiplied like never before, but workers aren’t reaping the harvest,” he said, according to the outlet.
“And if AI continues to be used as an accessory to that crime, it has to be stopped — it doesn’t have to be this way — in a just society, when workers create more value, they see more of the benefit.”
In the first quarter of 2026, GM reported $4.25 billion in profits, up 22% from the same period the previous year, according to Yahoo! Finance.
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