Every one who didn't get laid off was also a temp/contract worker or at least started as because that's how everything is. You didn't/don't get hired by VW you get hired by Aerotek. They weren't temp because they were willing to live with that uncertainty they were temp because that was only way to get a job.
For production positions, yes, people start with Aerotek. But that's not the entire workforce. And the closing of one shift was still not half the workforce, nor was everyone who was left Aerotek staffers. There undoubtedly were a great many production employees left who were still Aerotek at the time, but there were many left in the total workforce who were not temp workers. Again, I'm not saying it didn't suck, because it did, and there was a noted impact in people's lives here when it happened. But the facts are still quite different from what you initially stated.