Automakers tell non-factory employees to work remote to avoid coronavirus spread

Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler have started telling non-factory employees to work remotely in order to avoid contracting and spreading the coronavirus, as the world comes to grips with a growing pandemic. Factory workers at plants in the US, however, are being told to remain in place — despite the United Auto Workers union announcing Thursday that a Fiat Chrysler employee at the company’s Kokomo Transmission Plant in Indiana tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The push to have employees work remotely follows the lead of companies in tech and other industries that have been temporarily closing offices around the world. But the pressure could build to idle factories as the virus continues to...

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