Over last weekend, I read a fascinating article/photo essay in New York Times Magazine about the the GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that up until recently, made the Chevy Cruze. GM decided to “unallocate” the plant, which is a fancy way of saying that the plant wouldn’t be producing the Cruze anymore. Of course, most of Lordstown works, or worked, at the plant, and with the “unallocation,” people are likely out of jobs or be forced to move to a new plant somewhere else in the U.S.
I get strategy – GM is a multinational corporation and a pillar of the U.S. economy, and has to do what makes sense from a business perspective. But man, I was pretty down about the common, average, ordinary people in Lordstown that are members of UAW Local 1112. Let’s call it compassion. But when the CEO of GM makes $22 million, seems to me the union’s leveraging power is moot.
So I called Local 1112, to see if I could get a T-shirt (one of my life’s passions; you can never have too many T-shirts IMO). I chatted with Diane over there, who was super-nice, and I asked her what she was going to do now that the plant is “unallocated”. “Retire,” she said, without a laugh. But not everybody has that luxury.
The President tweeted today that GM was going to sell the Lordstown plant to Workhorse to make electric vehicles, which I guess is good news if true.
But you’ve got to wonder; did the pressure of negative national press force GM to make this move? I would bet.
That’s why we need the Fourth Estate, and I’m worried that it’s dying a slow death.
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