Chevrolet Bolt EV and Chevrolet
Sonic vehicles are assembled
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at the
General Motors Orion plant in
Orion Township, Michigan. (Photo
by Jeffrey Sauger for Chevrolet)
GM
announces
jobs,
electric
vehicle
after
Trump
criticism
By
MIKE
HOUSEHOLDER
and
TOM
KRISHER
APNews.com
ORION
TOWNSHIP,
MI -
Less
than a
week
after a
series
of
critical
tweets
from the
president
over an
Ohio
plant
closure,
General
Motors
is
announcing
plans to
add 400
jobs and
build a
new
electric
vehicle
at a
factory
north of
Detroit.
The
company
says it
will
spend
$300
million
at its
plant in
Orion
Township,
Michigan,
to
manufacture
a
Chevrolet
vehicle
based on
the
battery-powered
Bolt.
GM
wouldn’t
say when
the new
workers
will
start or
when the
new
vehicle
will go
on sale,
nor
would it
say if
the
workers
will be
new
hires or
come
from a
pool of
laid-off
workers
from the
planned
closings
of four
U.S.
factories
by
January.
The
company
also
announced
plans
Friday
to spend
about
another
$1.4
billion
at U.S.
factories
with 300
more
jobs but
did not
release
a time
frame or
details.
The
moves
come
after
last
weekend’s
string
of
venomous
tweets
by
President
Donald
Trump
condemning
GM for
shutting
its
small-car
factory
in
Lordstown,
Ohio,
east of
Cleveland.
During
the
weekend,
Trump
demanded
that GM
reopen
the
plant or
sell it,
criticized
the
local
union
leader
and
expressed
frustration
with CEO
Mary
Barra.
GM
spokesman
Dan
Flores
said the
investment
has been
in the
works
for
weeks.
Indeed,
GM has
said it
planned
to build
more
vehicles
off the
underpinnings
of the
Bolt,
which
can go
an
estimated
238
miles on
a single
electric
charge.
The
company
has
promised
to
introduce
20 new
all-electric
vehicles
globally
by 2023.
In
November,
GM
announced
plans to
shut the
four
U.S.
factories
and one
in
Canada.
About
3,300
workers
in the
U.S.
would
lose
their
jobs, as
well as
2,600 in
Canada.
Another
8,000
white-collar
workers
were
targeted
for
layoff.
The
company
said the
moves
are
necessary
to stay
financially
healthy
as GM
faces
large
capital
expenditures
to shift
to
electric
and
autonomous
vehicles.
Plants
slated
for
closure
include
Lordstown;
Detroit-Hamtramck,
Michigan;
Warren,
Michigan;
White
Marsh,
Maryland,
near
Baltimore
and
Oshawa,
Ontario
near
Toronto.
The
factories
largely
make
cars or
components
for
them,
and cars
aren’t
selling
well
these
days
with a
dramatic
consumer
shift to
trucks
and
SUVs.
With the
closures,
GM is
canceling
multiple
car
models
due to
slumping
sales,
including
the
Chevrolet
Volt
plug-in
gas-electric
hybrid.
GM
has said
it can
place
about
2,700 of
the
laid-off
U.S.
workers
at other
factories,
but it’s
unclear
how many
will
uproot
and take
those
positions.
More
than
1,100
have
already
transferred,
and
others
are
retiring.
“Right
now,
we’re
focused
on the
people
of
Lordstown,
making
sure
they
have
opportunities
because
we do
have
jobs,”
Barra
told
reporters
following
Friday’s
announcement.
“We want
every
single
person
in
Lordstown
to stay
within
the GM
family,
and
that’s
what
we’re
working
on.”
The
United
Auto
Workers
has sued
GM over
the
closings,
which
still
must be
negotiated
with the
union.
“I
will not
spoil a
great
occasion
here
today.
But
there is
hardship
amongst
four of
our
locations.
And
we’ve
made it
clear
that we
disagree
with
that,”
UAW Vice
President
Terry
Dittes
said.
Trump’s
latest
GM tweet
on
Monday
said GM
should:
“Close a
plant in
China or
Mexico,
where
you
invested
so
heavily
pre-Trump,”
and
“Bring
jobs
home!”
“I
understand
a lot of
the
angst
that
people
are
feeling,
and I
feel it,
too,”
Michigan
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer
said
Friday.
“And I
want to
make
sure
that GM
knows
that
their
investment
here in
Michigan
is
encouraged
and
welcomed
and
appreciated.
And
we’re
going to
keep
doing
that.”
Ohio
and the
area
around
the
Lordstown
plant
are
important
to
Trump’s
2020
re-election
bid. The
state
helped
push him
to
victory
in 2016,
and
Trump
has
focused
on
Lordstown,
seldom
mentioning
the
other
U.S.
factories
that GM
is
slated
to
close.
“General
Motors
is
committed
to
supporting
U.S.
manufacturing,
including
the
great
states
of Ohio
and
Michigan,”
said
Barra,
who
maintains
that she
sees no
further
layoffs
or plant
closures
through
the end
of 2020.