Last March, GM shuttered its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, drawing criticism and prompting a backlash among workers. GM floated the idea of transitioning the plant to EV battery production, but now, as the GM strike continues into its second week, UAW members say that such a move would be insufficient to support the local community, and are instead calling for new vehicle allocation.
“You can’t support a plant like this making batteries,” said “Buffalo” Joe Nero, who’s worked at five different GM plants over the last 42 years. “We need a new vehicle allocated to us.”
“It wouldn’t even cover 10 percent of the facility or hire 10 percent of the people, and they wouldn’t pay enough to support yourself, let alone a family,” Nero added while picketing outside the plant during the latest GM strike.
Previously, the GM Lordstown Plant was responsible for production of the Chevrolet Cruze, with some 4,500 workers employed. However, with dwindling sedan sales in the U.S. and the discontinuation of the U.S.-spec Cruze, GM moved to idle the plant.
At 6.2-million-square-feet, the Lordstown facility is massive. It opened in 1966, and produced 16 million vehicles before it was idled in March.
In 2017, President Trump visited Youngstown, a 20-minute drive from Lordstown, telling workers that factory jobs wouldn’t leave their community. “Don’t move, don’t sell your house,” Trump said. When the Lordstown plant was idled, many workers transferred, but hundreds still chose to stay.
Contract negotiations between UAW and GM indicate that the Lordstown plant could be used to produce batteries for electric vehicles. GM has also investigated sale of the plant to a group connected to Workhorse Group Inc., an EV startup company. Last June, GM’s CEO Mary Barra told Reuters that GM had no plans to build allocate a new vehicle to Lordstown.
It’s been a major sticking point in the latest GM strike.
“You did everything GM ever asked of you and it still wasn’t enough,” said UAW Local 1112 president Tim O’Hara, speaking at a rally outside the Lordstown Plant last week. “We’re going to hold the line as long as it takes.”
Meanwhile, the vice president with Auto Forecast Solutions, Sam Fiorani, told Reuters that new vehicle allocation was simply out of the question.
“There’s no chance that GM is going to put a product back into that plant. They have too much capacity as it is,” he said.
Meanwhile, contract negotiations between the UAW and GM are ongoing, as are protests across the nation amid the GM strike.
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Source: Reuters
Comments
If the employees 1. Decertify the UAW and 2. Give $$ parity that all the other automotive manufacturers employees have, this ends today with new jobs at US factories. As long as It costs GM more to build here then jobs will continue to leave. The UAW is the problem in this global economy…
Hopefully you and your family members have their jobs “outsourced” or better yet are replaced by foreign 401B visa holders and much less pay , then get back to us about how happy you are posting this BS.
Even if the settles today it would take 2-3 year to retrofit the plant and even find a model that could be moved there with out loss of profitability.
That is the whole reason they have nothing now as the Cruze failure was not planned this early
If you plan to built anything larger it will also take a new paint shop that is larger and add more to the cost.
The union needs to understand their relationship is employee and employer not employer and partners. Now if the want to buy in more stock then they can be a partner and see what it feels like when cost rise and stock drops.
The UAW already owns 7% of GM stock. The stock is stable because GM bought stock to artificially prop up the price, and because they cut costs. Long term, you cannot cut your way to prosperity. Real growth in stock price comes from having “gotta have” products. Right aside from perhaps the C8 Corvette few people can afford, I do not see any.
7% is not enough skin in the game. You want to be a partner then stock up not strike.
The Cruze was not a failure, people went to suv’s
Am I missing something, GM stated the plant itself would be sold, but Batteries would be somewhere on the site. I.e. GM would make batteries somewhere else on the GM Land and Workhorse would produce vehicles in former GM Plant, meaning two companies, and two different plants for displaced “workers” on the existing site. Every time I read a quote from a striking worker it scares me a little more about the world’s future!
I think the battery plant would be built near, but not on the Lordstown site, and would not be a wholly owned GM plant. Instead, it would be a joint venture plant.
Those who are blaming the union forget one thing: none of this would be happening if GM was not losing market share. I do not care if you shut down all GM UAW plants and move them to slave-wage countries like China and Mexico. The fact remains is that GM is not offering products that are growing its market share, and having different workers build the vehicles will not lead to any long term solutions. The classic GM way since the days of Roger Smith is to blame the workers at the lower level for upper management’s mistakes. The only clear way out of this is to get rid of Barra and her cronies, bring in a true car person from outside the organization that delivers compelling products people want to buy TODAY instead of what they MIGHT want to buy 20 years from now.
Tigger, you realize GM sold record numbers of vehicles back in 2018 right? GM management is doing something right. Cutting parts of the company that lose money and investing in markets that make money. UAW needs to be careful with how greedy they get. They may price themselves out of competitiveness
While GM has their own issues the Union is doing nothing but making things worse for GM and themselves.
No the union is not the whole issue but they are still part of the issue.
This is just like the bankruptcy. The poor decisions by GM caused it but also not facing down the union left them with record historic cost disadvantages played a major toll.
For too many years GM kicked the can down the road on labor and it caught up to them when the other brands imported cheaper labor car and opened non union plants with only young workers at them in the south.
Like it or not the union workers are just employees no more no less.
So just what is the answer right now? Seriously. Maybe the right thing would be for the UAW to take a step up, take the high road as they say and show genuine concern for the Company as loyal workers. Maybe take a pay cut but be at the same level as some other auto workers. Was there a believed opportunity here by the UAW? Perhaps the real opportunity is to look to “invest” in their future with additional stock in GM. What would instill a better work ethic, greater pride and genuine motivation for a better product?