Top story of the year: GM announces plans to idle plant in Lordstown

Editor's note: This is the No. 1 news story of 2018 as voted on by Tribune Chronicle newsroom staff.

WARREN -- The news was devastating -- General Motors, part of the Trumbull County family for 52 years with its plant in Lordstown -- announced in November it would idle the facility and four others in North America in early March.

A little more than 1,600 hourly and salary employees would be out of a job here. Their last day now is set for March 8.

This was just five months after the automaker eliminated the second shift at the plant, where the Chevrolet Cruze -- sales of which have been on a steep decline for several months as consumers gravitated back toward trucks and SUVs -- has been made since 2010.

The announcement also was made the Cruze -- always among GM's top-selling vehicles despite the slowdown in sales -- would no longer be produced.

Reaction was swift and contained hope GM officials, including CEO Mary Barra, who declined before the announcement to outline a specific future for the plant despite repeated requests from Ohio's U.S. senators and local U.S. representative to do so, would walk back the decision to idle the facility.

President Donald Trump joined the chorus by threatening to sever federal subsidies to the automaker because of the layoffs.

And a group of local retirees of United Auto Workers Local 1112 wrote Trump to remind the Republican he enjoyed success in Trumbull County in 2016 -- the first time since the 1970s voters in the Democratic stronghold supported a GOP presidential candidate.

They also reminded him of what he said in the campaign … "steel would return, mines would reopen and 'don't sell your homes.' GM will add production and open new production," in the hope he could impact the situation.

And thousands of school children wrote to and sent drawings to Barra explaining the impact the closure will have on their lives and the lives of their families in an attempt to convince her to reconsider the decision.

That was part of the Drive It Home Ohio campaign, the local grassroots effort to convince GM to reinvest in the Lordstown plant and grow jobs there.

That campaign got a boost on Friday -- $15,000 from the Lordstown Energy Center, the new $900 million natural gas-fired power plant within a couple miles of the General Motors facility.

"We're trying to raise awareness General Motors Lordstown is one of the most productive plants in the U.S.," said Dennis Willard, a spokesman for the campaign. "Our workforce just gets the job done, has adapted to the changing needs of the industry and is willing to sit down and work things out."

"We are going to drive it home that this is the best place for General Motors to continue to do business, show them by showing them the community support, the workforce, all of the attributes," Willard said. "If they were looking to relocate this plant, we think we could convince them to build a plant here, that is how good this area is for them."

The announcement rippled through the community.

Source Providers, a subsidiary of Comprehensive Logistics in Austintown, will close as a result of stopping production at GM Lordstown. About 180 employees will lose their jobs at the company, a warehousing, sequencing and logistics facility under Comprehensive Logistics. It acts as a feeder plant for the Lordstown GM facility, which is its only client

This is in addition to the 300 employees laid off already when the second shift was eliminated in June and the previous third shift elimination.

In addition, Lordstown Seating Systems, a subsidiary of automotive supply company Magna, has announced it will cease production, causing the company to "layoff virtually all of its employees" at its Henn Parkway SW facility in February.

GM's announcement also caused Mercy Health to pause plans on a proposed $250 million hospital near the Eastwood Mall.

The health care provider told employees in a letter earlier this month it is indefinitely putting on hold plans for a new facility at the park because of the "economic uncertainty" of the General Motors plant in Lordstown.

There was no commitment, however, by Mercy Health to build in the area north of the shopping center that's being called Enterprise Park.

"This has a paralyzing effect on investments," said U.S. Rep. Timothy J. Ryan, D-Howland. "That is the ripple effect we often talk about. It's not just the supply chain, it's future investments as well."

rselak@tribtoday.com