The president of Unifor Local 444 says the first day back at the Windsor Assembly Plant went off without a hitch.
Dave Cassidy says there were a few growing pains, but the line got up and running without any major problems.
Production at the plant resumed Tuesday after being down for about eight weeks due to COVID-19.
Cassidy says plastic dividers have been installed between work stations and face masks and safety glasses are now mandatory.
"It's a new flavour having to wear the masks and the glasses. They did open up the windows inside the facility to get some air circulating. The big issue is going to be the fans inside the facility as it gets hot and COVID, it being airborne, etc.," he says.
Cassidy says worker safety remains top priority.
"Overall, what I saw, people felt better. Is there places for improvement? Of course, there's always places for improvement. But overall, I think people felt pretty good about it," he says.
Cassidy says, for the most part, workers are happy to be back.
"It was slow getting into the facility since it was day one, but I know a lot of people who have reached out are happy that they're back. We just want to make sure that health and safety is first and foremost," he adds.
Before entering the plant workers now have to go through daily screenings which include a number of health related questions and a temperature check.
Roughly 2,000 employees who have been called back to work while about 3,500 are still off the job.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi