WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) blasted General Motors for reportedly using temporary workers at a plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, instead of recently laid-off employees from the company’s plant in the Mahoning Valley. According to recent news reports, the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union is suing the company for failing to provide these job opportunities to workers who were eligible for transfer under their collective bargaining agreement. Brown called GM’s decision shameful.

“I strongly support UAW’s decision to fight GM’s attack on the Lordstown workers. It says everything you need to know about GM that they’d shut down the highly productive Lordstown plant, only to build the Blazer in Mexico, and they’d lay off 4,500 workers in the Mahoning Valley, only to hire temp workers in Indiana. As I’ve said before, it’s corporate greed at its worst. GM’s leadership should be ashamed,” said Brown.

Last month, Senators Brown and Rob Portman (R-OH) penned a letter to General Motors CEO Mary Barra in which they demanded answers on the future of the Lordstown plant. The Senators have continually urged GM to invest in this highly productive facility, rather than shutter its doors. In the letter, they demanded answers on the potential job and supply chain impacts, should GM decide to pursue its disastrous decision to close the plant. 

Brown and Portman met with Barra in December as well, following GM’s announcement that it would lay off its third and final shift of workers and close its Lordstown plant in March of 2019. Both Ohio Senators have urged GM to work with them to save these Lordstown jobs.

Earlier this year, GM announced plans to build the new Chevy Blazer in Mexico on the same day the company ended the second shift at a plant. GM has eliminated nearly 3,000 jobs at the plant over the last two years.

 

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