UAW retirees remind Trump of promise in letter

Ask the president to persuade GM not to idle plant

WARREN -- President Donald Trump won Trumbull County in 2016 -- the first time since the 1970s a Republican was victorious in the Democratic stronghold. And he nearly won Mahoning County, where Democrats also have ruled the roost for decades.

Now, it's time for Trump to help the Mahoning Valley and persuade General Motors to walk back the decision to idle the General Motors plant in Lordstown next year, according to a letter the retirees of United Auto Workers Local 1112 sent to the president.

"During your campaign for the presidency, you declared that steel would return, mines would reopen and 'don't sell your homes.' GM will add production and open new production. A lot of our members believed in what you said and supported and voted for you and, as a result, you won Ohio and Trumbull County where Lordstown is located," the letter from Bill Bowers, retiree group chairman, and Jackie LaPresta, recording secretary, states.

The letter was sent earlier this week to the White House.

"We wanted to refresh his memory that when he campaigned here in the Mahoning Valley, he said all of those things," Bowers said Thursday.

GM announced in November its intentions to place the Lordstown plant and four other North American facilities on "unallocated" status as of March 2019. The company also stated it will no longer produce the Chevrolet Cruze, which has been assembled in Lordstown since 2010.

The last day for employees at the plant is March 8. A notice filed with the state shows 1,607 hourly and salaried employees will be impacted.

Bowers said the move doesn't impact the retirees' health care or pensions, but all of those people who will be laid off are "our sons, daughters, family and friends," the letter states.

Also, the shutdown "will affect our suppliers' base as well as all the businesses, charities and tax base for the Mahoning Valley. This creates a burden on all the municipalities to support police, fire and schools to service the residents of the Mahoning Valley," Bowers and LaPresta wrote.

Bowers said he is encouraged by Trump speaking up and threatening to sever federal subsidies to the automaker because of the layoffs.

The goal now, Bowers said, is to "keep it in the forefront, don't let it fall behind, don't let it become history."