mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Second Lordstown Plant Supplier Announces Layoffs

A second parts supplier to the General Motors Lordstown plant in Ohio has announced it will lay off its workforce. Lordstown Seating Systems, a subsidiary of Magna, announced it will idle operations and cut virtually all jobs from its operations in the process.

The Tribune Chronicle reported Sunday the seat supplier filed the notice with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and said 120 jobs will be cut. The news follows the impending closure of Source Providers, a second local supplier. The company once employed 600 workers, but the final 180 employees will be out of a job when the company shuts down in tandem with the Lordstown plant’s idling.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze production at Lordstown plant 06 fender install

Critically, Lordstown Seating Systems will not shut down, but idle its operations with hopes GM will allocate a new vehicle to the Lordstown plant itself. In a statement, the company said, “Based on the information of which we are currently aware, the layoffs are expected to last longer than six months. Should General Motors allocate a future product to Lordstown Assembly, we would hope to be selected as the seat supplier, which may allow us to recall a significant number of employees.”

However, if no new vehicle is selected for the plant, the company said to consider the layoffs permanent.

At the Lordstown plant, 1,600 employees will lose their jobs, though GM has underscored the fact it has 2,700 open positions at plants that build trucks and SUVs. Over 1,000 affected employees from various plants have applied for transfer opportunities. GM will also idle three other plants in the U.S. aside from the Lordstown plant, including the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in Michigan.

GM Lordstown Plant Exterior Home of the Chevrolet Cruze poster

Analysts have already forecasted that if GM was to save one of the plants from closure, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant has a better chance. The facility is newer and would likely require less investment for new vehicles.

But, we won’t know the final outcome of both assembly plants until GM and the UAW work on a new labor agreement. The current agreement expires this coming September.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. The assembly plants are still working in china BUT workers in AMERICA are laid off . GOOD JOB MARY I hope your holidays are as thankful as the workers you laid off . Its time you receive a pink slip also

    Reply
  2. The problem with China is they require a joint venture to be set up with a Chinese company in order to do business there. All this could have been avoided if in the past our politicians wouldn’t have sold their soul when letting China into the WTO and various trade agreements.

    Reply
  3. Meanwhile, in Mexico…GM (Generally Mexico) has now become that country’s largest automaker. Hardworking Americans lose their jobs, in favor of increased investor confidence, and fat-ass bonuses for Machete Mary and Co. Generally Mexico will now have Pedro and Pablo working on the new Blazer line for 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, for what equates to minimum hourly wage in the U.S., and one pee break per shift. Machete Mary and Co. will further enhance their profit margins and bonuses, because the new Blazer presents a significant price tag/profit margin in higher trims, all put together for pennies-on-the-dollar in good ol’ Mexico. At the same time, Machete Mary continues to tell investors that Generally Mexico’s future is electric and autonomous vehicles. Why? Because investors love hearing this crap. That’s why Elon Musk is such a darling on Wall Street. Big Tech pipe dreams equals higher stock value. In reality, a tiny fraction of the world’s population actually want one of these overpriced battery-powered turds. At the same time she’s chirping about this utopian future, GM is cranking out all the giant, overpriced trucks and SUVs it can sell. So, raise your Margarita glass, and offer 3 cheers for Machete Mary as she extends a heartfelt middle finger to the dedicated American workers that will be losing their jobs, in short order. I no longer have any respect for her, and I doubt any of the hard-working men and women that assemble GM vehicles in the U.S. do, either. Maybe someone should shove a burrito up her ass, and give her a good shove out the door. I hear the weather isn’t bad this time of year, in Mexico.

    Reply
  4. Mexico is a source of low cost labor for decades. The Americans love to pay lower prices for their cars and also wants big dollars and Overtime payment when working in American Plants. So we do have an issue here. What do the Americans want?
    Instead of complaints , what if you stop buying japanese and corean vehicles to start. Then ban the trades with Mexico . Your cars and trucks will cost more , have less quality and you will be happy campers. And Mrs Barra can take a fat bonus check !

    Reply
  5. America wants to make a ton of money at low skilled or more basic jobs but. They do not want to pay the price for it.

    The money to pay someone $15 at Mc D’s Has to come from somewhere.

    The path to an improved life and pay is education and or gaining a highly needed skill. Just paying people more for the same is a cycle to no where.

    Higher wages = higher prices and that is where the UAW lies. They always leave those they representvwanting while union officials get rich off of them.

    Right now the wages are growing in Blue Collar construction as so few people want to work with their hands. The ability to make six figures are there if you gain the right skills the market is demanding like welders.

    I worked an assembly line and I was laid off. My job went to SR. union people and over time the company was sold, plant closed job went to Mex. been there done that.

    I took the lead in the lay off and gained the needed education and today have a very good job of 25 years that never laid me off, paid me more than the plant job ever would and no union dues for nothing.

    At the time it hurt but I learned fast what it takes to really get ahead and that is effort on your own part. Getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened.

    Get educated or learn a needed skill, show up everyday and pass a drug test and you can just about write your own ticket to six figures with some effort.

    Reply
    1. best advise in 2019

      Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel