The General Motors transmission plant in Warren has officially closed.
About 260 hourly workers are affected by the closure, which took effect at 1 p.m. Friday, Fox 2 Detroit said about the 78-year-old plant. The Warren plant is one of four the company is idling nationwide.
About a quarter of the 260 workers accepted transfers to plants in Toledo and Flint, Fox 2 Detroit said. Others are waiting, while 25 are retiring.
When GM announced last November that it planned the closures, the company said more than 1,500 hourly workers would be affected at the plants. As of February of this year, nearly 950 employees accepted transfer opportunities at truck, SUV and crossover-related operations, GM said in a press release. That includes 132 Lordstown, Ohio, employees being placed at GM’s Spring Hill plant.
Employee Ghana Goodwin-Dye, president of UAW Local 909, which represented workers in Warren, told Wards Auto that GM should invest in American jobs rather than Mexico and China.
GM considers the plants “unallocated” pending the outcome of contract talks between GM and the union, Wards Auto said. The union will press GM for new investments in the plants.
Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI-05), blamed President Donald Trump, WXYZ said.
However, the president has been urging House Democrats to end their resistance and pass the USMCA, which has been dubbed “NAFTA 2.0.”
Former Missouri Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, last week called for bipartisan support of USMCA and issued a statement.
“FCA US, Ford and General Motors are essential to America’s economic growth supporting two out of three jobs in the U.S. auto sector,” he said. “America’s automakers, their employees, and the auto manufacturing supply chain depend on exports to grow jobs here at home. The USMCA will help ensure that the American automotive industry is able to stay globally competitive by establishing a framework to increase investment and research and development in the United States.”
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Transmission Plant” by General Motors.
[…] Earlier this month, General Motors announced that it had officially closed its plant in Warren, Michigan, affecting 260 hourly workers, The Michigan Star reported. […]