LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — With an assembly plant and a distribution center on strike in Lansing, what does this mean for you and me?
There are a lot of layers to a strike like this. The longer it goes on, the more we will see effects on non-UAW workers and even the general public.
Experts say companies supporting striking facilities will suffer, like janitorial staff, transportation providers and logistic services. And if the strike goes on even longer, it will be a lot harder to find parts for cars and trucks.
A supply chain expert said the economic effects will stretch to unrelated businesses whose traffic comes from autoworkers.
“It’s going to be a pretty immediate and profound effect, locally,” said Amy Broglin-Peterson of Michigan State University’s Department of Supply Chain Management. “The gas stations, the car washes, restaurants, so on and so forth. Huge impact to those businesses. And those businesses are not billion-dollar companies; they’re usually small, family-owned.”
And the automakers themselves should be concerned, because smaller suppliers that they rely on really will take a hot. Again, the longer this goes on, the more we will see not just local impacts, but national as well.
