Tuesday is key for GM Lordstown

By LARRY RINGLER / Tribune Chronicle
LORDSTOWN — The General Motors Corp. Lordstown Complex could run out of parts by Tuesday to build the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 if a supplier strike continues, a union leader said.

Dave Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1714 of the Lordstown Metal Center plant, said management told him Thursday afternoon the estimate for running out of a brake part had been moved to Tuesday from the previous estimate of April 18.

Green said he’s scheduled to meet management at 9 a.m. today to get more details about how the situation may develop.

The Metal Center stamps and fabricates steel body parts for the small cars built at the next-door assembly plant. Some of the plant’s 1,000 hourly workers may stay on the job to make parts to bring inventory levels up to required levels, Green noted.

A UAW Local 1112 handout at that plant on Monday stated the factory was second in priority to GM’s Fairfax, Kan., plant for closure if the strike at American Axle continues. No update on the assembly outlook was available Thursday.

GM declines to address potential plant closings, instead announcing only when a factory is being affected. Lordstown has been expected to be affected by the strike before but managed to find parts to keep building its popular small cars.

American Axle workers, who make a steel spindle used by Lordstown suppliers to make brakes, struck the company Feb. 26. The strike has affected production at 29 GM plants, plus the Hummer factory operated by American General, but critical car production thus far hasn’t been affected as much as slow-selling trucks and sport utility vehicles.

In addition, a local contract between the Metal Center employees and management could be reached by the end of the month, Green said. The plant, along with the assembly factory, have been working on a local pact off and on for months to find ways to deal with thorny issues of which jobs are considered core and noncore.

Green said bargainers are trying to find the best terms for current and future workers.

‘‘We’re not going to sell out the members, but we’re doing everything we can to secure the facility for future work. I’m talking work that will be here 10 years down the road,’’ he said.

GM has committed to putting two new cars in the factory if a satisfactory contract can be reached.



lringler@tribune-chronicle.com