General Motors is just hours from shutting down its Moraine, Ohio, and Janesville, Wisconsin, assembly plants. As we’ve previously reported, the two plants are being closed in a cost-savings and inventory-reducing move for the struggling Detroit automaker. Most Janesville workers punched out for the last time last night and Moraine workers will clock out once and for all tonight.
The Moraine plant produced the Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7x, while the Janesville plant produced the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and medium-duty trucks for Isuzu.
The Janesville plant will continue producing trucks for Isuzu using a skeleton crew through June, after which it will shut its doors. It was GM’s oldest continuously operating plant, having opened to automobile production in 1919.
The UAW assembly plant workers will not be eligible for the union’s “jobs bank,” which provided at least 85 percent of wages for up to two years for laid-off workers. The UAW eliminated the benefit as a concession to receive the $17.4 billion federal loan package the Bush Administration granted on Friday.
12/23, 9:07 AM
posted by:
tob
@ Janesville there is a bar in the parking lot. I wonder if he will go out of business. I guess maybe he should have sold out before the plant closed. Sorry for all the workers loosing their jobs at Christmas.
12/23, 9:40 AM
posted by:
RaineMan
I’m just wondering how long it will be before disgruntled former employees burn Lutz and Wagoner’s houses to the ground. These people are hard working average American citizens… and union or no they should hold their employers accountable for years of bad business practices that have lead them to this point.
12/23, 10:20 AM
posted by:
howsmydriving
A farewell to pigs. It’s convenient to blame Gettlefinger as the personification of gross excess but the workers, as voting union members, must share in the blame.
12/23, 11:07 AM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
“The UAW assembly plant workers will not be eligible for the union’s “jobs bank,†which provided at least 85 percent of wages for up to two years for laid-off workers. The UAW eliminated the benefit as a concession to receive the $17.4 billion federal loan package the Bush Administration granted on Friday.”
So sad…… Maybe Honda will buy or lease the plant and give them all job….. or not….
12/23, 11:35 AM
posted by:
moparsalesman
my father in law works for a union as an electrician and makes very good money ive never known anyone to wish him ill for making more money than someone else. last i checked when working the point is to find the best job with the best benefits and best time off packages so you can enjoy life. i guess thats not what most of you do. when you laugh at these people losing their jobs think of the families that are affected before you laugh about it.
12/23, 12:58 PM
posted by:
jackjimturkey
Sad news.
12/23, 1:56 PM
posted by:
rds130
@ howsmydriving, you’re assuming all of those workers actually want to be in the union. I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. Sure they voted, but they voted against their will. The arguement that, ” well they could’ve found other jobs” is total bull****. Moraine is a town of 6,000 people with outlying areas up to 2 hours away coming to work at that plant. It’s a blow to the entire town’s economy. Stick your finger back in Gettlefinger’s nose.
12/23, 6:38 PM
posted by:
Zcarsales
I hope the leadership of the UAW is happy. In the past, labor unions were able to see the forest for the trees and protect the worker. Now, because of the LEADERSHIP of the UAW, these men and women are out of a job.
I’m quite sure that the executives of the “Big 3″ often pointed the profit and loss column to the the UAW during the course of labor contract negotiations. I blame Gettlefinger.
Go to UAW’s website and look for a section where you can write a letter to the LEADERSHIP of the UAW. Just try.