With a decrease in ventilator and anesthesia machine production, GE has laid off more than 90 Wisconsin GE Healthcare plant workers, in addition to around 50 employees laid off in December 2020, reports Channel 3000.
The Madison plant ramped up hiring efforts last spring with about 250 employees brought on to increase ventilator production after General Electric received a $336 million contract under the Defense Production Act in April 2020 to produce 50,000 ventilators by June 13, 2020. Vice President Mike Pence visited the Madison plant last April to highlight the increased production.
“These orders have now been fulfilled and in response to lower ongoing demand, we are making adjustments that impact a portion of the 250 additional employees hired last year,” a spokesperson for GE Healthcare told News 3 Now. GE Healthcare did not explicitly acknowledge the layoffs announced by the union, but said the “adjustments” did not reflect the performance or dedication of the impacted employees.
Read more at Channel 3000.