Auto giant GM said Thursday that the fate of a Lordstown, Ohio, plant that has drawn attention from President Trump and Senate lawmakers depends on upcoming contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers.
“GM has said the plant is unallocated and the next steps are a matter of UAW-GM negotiations,” GM spokesman Patrick Morrissey told Reuters Thursday. The company has repeatedly used the term “unallocated” rather than “idle” to characterize the Lordstown plant’s status.
Morrissey’s comment implies the union may have to make real concessions to keep the plant running. But the union believes GM is restricted from shutting down plants under its contract with the company, and will likely be pushing the company to find other ways to keep it float.
Under the terms of its existing UAW collective bargaining contract, GM cannot shut down its domestic plants except in cases “beyond the control of the company.” The union has said it will challenge the closure legally if necessary.
“As we have stated previously the UAW will leave no stone unturned contractually, legally, and through bargaining to keep the GM plant open,” said UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg.
The contract talks have not been scheduled and are likely several months off at least. The company has previously said it is not planning any production at the plant, which employs 1,600 workers and is crucial to the state’s auto supply chain businesses, but claimed that is not technically idle.
GM head Mary Barra announced plans late last month to close five auto plants, including four in the U.S., and lay off an estimated 15,000 workers. The announcement was part of a massive restructuring that involved dropping six car models.
The announcement has been widely panned, including by Trump.
“I am not happy with what she did. You know, the United States saved General Motors, and for her to take that company out of Ohio is not good. I think she’s going to put something back in soon,” President Trump said last month. The president later threatened to end an electric car tax credit program that GM has lobbied Congress to expand.
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, met privately with Barra shortly after the announcement and pressed her to locate new electric car production at the facility. Barra was noncommittal, telling the lawmakers she did “not want to raise expectations up.”
