Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, were rebuffed when they met privately Wednesday with General Motors CEO Mary Barra in a bid to get her to reverse plans to close an assembly line in their state and lay off up to 1,500 workers there.
“She has said she was going to keep an open mind but does not want to raise expectations up,” Portman told reporters following the meeting. Portman and Brown had sought the meeting in the hopes that they could get GM to bring new production to the plant.
Portman added, “We are not asking for charity. What we are asking for is to give the community and the workforce the opportunity to show what they can do.”
Brown said Barra had said the company was looking for ways to find positions for displaced workers at other GM factories, but she noted that those opportunities were “finite.”
The United Auto Workers union has claimed that the decision violates commitments GM made during contract talks in 2015 and said in a letter Monday to the Detroit automaker it would challenge it during its upcoming contact talks. Portman and Brown indicated that they would try to aid UAW during the talks.
President Trump and others have slammed GM’s announcement as well. Portman said Trump and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta were coordinating with the senators on the issue.
