GM

A month after the last Chevy Cruze rolled off the line at GM’s Lordstown plant, some laid off workers are moving away and businesses in the Mahoning Valley are feeling the effects.

Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was in Lordstown yesterday for a town hall on education, the economy and how they’re tied to the city’s future.

Workers who were recently laid off from General Motors’ Lordstown plant likely will not be among those to benefit from the production of a new electric vehicle (at least not this year), according to GM spokeswoman Cheryl McCarron.

It's down to the final days for the Chevy Cruze at the General Motors assembly plant in Lordstown.

"The last Cruze is scheduled to roll off the production line Wednesday, said Dave Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. "The plant's going to go on official unallocated status as of Friday."

Despite little apparent progress getting a new product for Lordstown, Green remains hopeful that the union might be able to win a new lease of life for the plant during upcoming contract negotiations with the company.

General Motors Chief Executive Officer has responded to correspondence from Mahoning Valley students about the company's plans to shut down its assembly plant in Lordstown. 

Students sent Mary Barra letters and drawings appealing for her to reconsider the plan to unallocate the Lordstown facility in March. G-M plans to end production of the Chevrolet Cruze, which is built there.

The United Auto Workers labor union is suing General Motors over the use of temporary workers at a plant in Indiana, saying that laid-off members from Lordstown could do the jobs.

The UAW filed the suit this week in federal court in Youngstown. The suit accuses the company of violating a labor agreement that allows laid-off employees with seniority to seek to relocate to other GM facilities.

The complaint says the union agreed to GM’s hiring of temporary employees in Fort Wayne, Indiana, through August 2018 to help with the launch of a new pickup truck.

GM’s plant in Lordstown, which is slated to cease production next year, could have a future with one of the automaker’s competitors.

Gov. John Kasich says he’s still working with officials at General Motors on the planned shutdown of the Lordstown assembly plant in March, but isn’t offering promises that it can be halted. And he’s also firing back at those who’ve been critical of his response.