GM Plans 1.1K Jobs for Lordstown, Ohio, While Laying Off 800 Detroit Workers

Multinational automaker General Motors (GM) is planning to hire about 1,100 American workers in Lordstown, Ohio, for an upcoming electric vehicle battery plant while laying off more than 800 of its workers in Detroit, Michigan.

GM executives are rumored to be entering into a joint $2.3 billion venture with South Korean company LG Chem to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio — the small town that has been devastated by GM’s decision to close its manufacturing plant, leaving 1,600 American workers immediately laid off and potentially another 8,000 in supporting industries laid off.

GM has since sold the Lordstown manufacturing plant to Lordstown Motors Corp., which plans to manufacture electric pickup trucks by the end of next year.

The GM-LG Chem venture is expected to bring about 1,100 jobs to Lordstown residents and be the first unionized electric vehicle battery plant in the U.S., represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW).

The new battery plant is expected to begin construction in the summer of 2020.

At the same time, GM CEO Mary Barra is expected to lay off more than 800 American workers from the corporation’s Detroit Hamtramck Assembly plant in order to retool the facility to build electric vehicles.

The layoffs will hit workers in February of next year, though GM executives promise that all laid-off employees can get other jobs at the company so long as they are willing to move themselves and their families to other regions in Michigan and Ohio.

As Breitbart News has reported, multinational corporations often tout that their laid-off American workers can join other plants and offices if they are willing to pack up their lives and move. For many GM workers, though, such a move is not an option as it uproots their families and community life.

American manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy, as every one manufacturing job supports an additional 7.4 American jobs in other industries. Decades of free trade, with deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have eliminated nearly five million manufacturing jobs from the American economy and resulted in the closure of about 50,000 manufacturing plants.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.