The General Motors White Marsh plant in Maryland will close Saturday, May 4, according to Patch.com. Some 296 people will lose their jobs when White Marsh closes. It’s one of five North American favorites General Motors announced it wanted to idle as part of a massive restructuring.
Local politicians petitioned GM to keep the factory open, which builds transmissions for the highly-profitable Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickup trucks as well as the electric drive components for the Cadillac CT6 PHEV, which the automaker discontinued. However, GM didn’t waver in its decisions—as it’s done in countless other communities impacted by the various closures.
Both Baltimore County and GM said they’d officer job placement services to affected workers.
The future of the White Marsh plant, just like others GM is idling like the Lordstown plant, remains uncertain. Chesapeake Realty Partners has shown interest in the 65-acre property, but there are no definitive plans. In a December 60 Minutes interview, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the electric automaker could be interested in the property if GM has no plans to use it. Nothing has developed on that front.
A month after GM announced its decisions to close the White Marsh plant and others, Maryland state and federal lawmakers asked the automaker to return $115 million in federal, state and local aid. The politicians also asked GM to assist in finding a new tenant if the automaker goes through with its decisions to close the plant.
The United Auto Workers union filed a lawsuit last week in a last-ditch effort to keep three U.S. factories operating. The union alleges GM violated their 2015 contract agreement by idling plants earlier than agreed upon. GM says it didn’t breach the contract. One of the other facilities GM proposed to close is in Canada where Unifor, the local union, is fighting to keep the Oshawa factory open. The other facility GM was going to idle early was its Detroit-Hamtramck plant. However, GM extended production there until January 2020–beyond the current contract. There, workers will continue to build the Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala.
Comments
The lead photo appears to be that of the GM-built Allison-branded 10-speed transmission.
Where is GM moving the production of these transmissions? I hope they keep it in the U.S.
Don’t count on it with Hatchet Mary in charge!
Knowing Machete Mary’s US last policy, the work will probably be sent to Mexico and China.
Like I have been detailing on the Stock Drop article on GMA, things are about to get much worse.
Yes, Mary made a big mistake on China like several other GM execs. One of many articles, but have a look:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/06/chinas-growth-could-plummet-to-2percent-capital-economics.html
Quick Summary:
“China’s time as an emerging markets outperformer is ending,” said Capital Economics’ Chief Asia Economist Mark Williams, at a conference in Singapore on Tuesday.
Speakers at the conference pointed to an array of risks as well as changing demographics for the world’s second largest economy.
That includes its debt problem, declining working population, and increasingly weaker drivers of productivity, they said.
Did you know it leaked out from the Chinese government that only 15 million babies were born in China last year. While that might seem like a big number, it is miniscule compared to their 1.35 billion population. They simply cant replace their population as it ages and no immigration (they won’t allow), which really doesn’t bode well for future GM growth in the country.
Add one more thing that Alex and the consultant/ analyst types on here might like to know know:
Many top factories in China (around Beijing and Guang Dong province) are now at only 70% capacity and are laying of workers in the thousands. These are factories that ran at 110% capacity for many years and need to run at 100% capacity to compete because they make low-margin commodity products. A rapid shift to other Asian countries like Vietnam for production and falling demand; it’s bigger than you think.
This news would be FAR more disastrous for Ford considering the billions they’ve spent in factories and partnerships, trying and failing to gain marketshare there for years. So far they have very little to show for it. And Mr. Hackett still sees China as a critical part of their business plan. I wonder how the Raptor is selling in China. There was a lot of hype when they announced it would go on sale there.
I believe from they are moving it to the Toledo Powertrain shop. Friends of mine transferred there from Lordstown and have told me they are building 10 speeds for our HD’s built in Flint, MI
Look where the worker is putting the casting: Defective Material Return. That photo is only one data point (nothing to draw a conclusion from), but scrap and rework are drains that can make or break viable production.
GM “quality” at its best.
Meanwhile, Mary is more interested in photo ops and grandstanding.