General Motors Corp.'s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Monday generated mixed feelings of relief among local workers that a decision finally was made and optimism that Lordstown's new car will play a key role in a revived GM, local union leaders said.
''Believe it or not, there's a sense of relief,'' said Jim Graham, president of the 3,400-member United Auto Workers Local 1112 at the Lordstown East assembly plant. ''Our members say do what you're going to do and get it over with so we can start building cars.''
Graham's comments came soon after officials from the 100-year-old automaker on Monday walked into Federal Bankruptcy Court in New York to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Officials have said they have hopes of swiftly reorganizing and emerging leaner and less burdened by debt and labor costs. According to the filing, the company has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.
The corporation will rely on $30 billion of additional financial assistance from the Treasury Department as it reorganizes. That's on top of about $20 billion in taxpayer money GM already has received in the form of low-interest loans.
The much-anticipated Chapter 11 petition marks the fourth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the largest for an industrial company.
GM also revealed Monday that it will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others. The GM Lordstown plants were not among them, leaving local UAW members breathing relief.
''No one wanted to go into bankruptcy, but not knowing what was going to happen was worse. At least at this point we know the direction we're headed,'' said Dave Green, president of 1,100-member Local 1714 of the GM Lordstown Complex West Metal Center, where workers stamp and fabricate Cobalt and G5 steel body parts.
Green said he was reassured after listening to news conferences about the automaker's historic bankruptcy.
''It appears the working men and women have the support from the president of the United States. It sounds like (GM Chief Executive Officer) Fritz (Henderson) has a good grasp on the direction the company will go. I think GM will come out stronger than ever.''
Lordstown's next car - the upscale Cruze - will play a key role in any GM resurgence, the union leaders said.
''Once the Cruze comes out and people realize it's a well-engineered car that gets 40 to 45 miles per gallon, it'll sell,'' Graham said of the car scheduled to start rolling off the Lordstown assembly line next April.
Production of the new Chevrolet Cruze means the local plant is likely to return to two shifts, with the outside possibility that three shifts could be used if sales surge, a GM executive said Monday.
''We're very bullish on the Cruze,'' GM Vice President of North America Manufacturing Tim Lee said in a conference call with reporters, adding production on two shifts is expected to reach 60 Cruzes an hour. ''We'd love to fill out capacity on the Cruze and put a third shift on, but it's probably not a reasonable expectation based on how may cars and trucks will be sold in total in the United States and our segment share and our performance in that segment. If market roars back, or if product is hotter than we anticipate it will be, that's a possibility, but it's not the mainstream plan at this point.''
Lordstown had been operating with just one shift before the start of an unprecedented six-week shutdown Friday due to the industry-wide sales crash that includes its Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G5 small cars. It had just added a third shift last July before sales plunged.
Lee, who said he visited the plant a couple of weeks ago, said workers are more than 60 percent along in attaching machinery to the floor of the highly automated body shop. The shop's high-tech robots and other production machinery will be flexible enough to allow the plant to make as many as seven different body styles as sales change, officials have said.
GM is building Cruze pre-production models in Michigan, with the intent to start building prototype vehicles at Lordstown before the end of the year, Lee said.
Lordstown initially will be the sole producer of the Cruze for the North America market, but GM is looking for a second location, although that hasn't been confirmed yet, Lee said.
Asked about Lordstown's strengths as a production site, Lee noted GM has invested heavily in the complex with a new paint shop, adding the complex has an attached metal stamping plant, something the company is stressing at other sites.
''We've had a long history in the Mahoning Valley and look forward to building the Cruze there,'' he said.
