The General Motors Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan is the latest facility to see the automaker’s North American restructuring reach its plant. The metal center stamps metal for the Chevrolet Volt and Buick LaCrosse—both cars exited production last month at the soon-to-be-idled Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
The Detroit Free Press reported on the layoffs Thursday and mentioned the latest cuts come as GM plans to close its processing center in West Chester, Ohio. The processing center’s closure will take another 101 jobs with it. The automaker will give employees the opportunity to relocate to another processing center in Michigan.
Like other laid-off GM employees represented by the United Auto Workers union, all the workers at the Ohio processing center and Pontiac metal center will receive benefits in accordance with their contract and can apply to positions at other plants.
Although the Chevrolet Volt and Buick LaCrosse ended production last month, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant will keep humming until January 2020. GM said it would continue to build the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6 at the plant for another seven months past its original idle date this summer. Some 800 workers likely celebrated the news, but its future remains unknown past January 2020. Four U.S. plants will ultimately go idle with GM working to close the plants permanently. The other plants are the Lordstown plant in Ohio, and two transmission plants—one in Michigan and one in Maryland.
The Lordstown plant officially ended production on Wednesday and goes idle today. The UAW has vowed to fight and have GM allocate new vehicles to both car production plants in the U.S. GM, however, has shown no sign it has any vehicles to allocate for either plant.
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I think that this was the plant that Machete Mary’s father worked at.