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The General Motors manufacturing complex has been a critical part of our local economy for more than 50 years.
Whether United Auto Workers there were manufacturing the Chevrolet Impala in the late 1960s, the GMC G-series van in the 1980s, the extremely popular Chevy Cruze today or even that problematic little Vega in the 1970s, the Lordstown GM plant has employed tens of thousands of workers and supported an equal number of families since opening in 1966.
Now, however, the future of the sprawling plant is in question.
Thousands of workers have been laid off, shifts have been eliminated and the future of operations is less clear than ever before as more and more domestic automotive manufacturing is shipped out of the country.
General Motors cut its third shift at the Lordstown plant in late 2017, laying off 1,200 workers at that time. That was followed by the elimination of the second shift earlier this summer. Timing of the latest cuts added insult to injury because it coincided with GM's announcement that it was reintroducing the Chevy Blazer SUV and it would be manufactured in a new plant south of the border.
Today, the GM Lordstown complex employs about 1,500 salaried and hourly workers, down considerably from the 4,500 workers it had just a few years ago and way down from its 12,000-worker peak in 1976.
Many believe General Motors has a plan for the local plant. But if that's true, so far the auto giant has declined to release the details publicly.
Last week a large number of Democratic leaders and organized labor rallied in Lordstown in an effort to bring attention to the need for President Trump's intervention and support when it comes to these good-paying jobs and GM's questionable local future.
Some of those rallying pointed out that our region already has been hit hard by the collapse of the steel industry. That makes the downturn of local auto manufacturing even more difficult to swallow. Warren Mayor Doug Franklin put it well when he noted last week that the Mahoning Valley knows how to take a punch. But wouldn't it be nice, he said, to have someone from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C., fighting for and with the Valley.
Now, of course it's impossible for any government official -- president or otherwise -- to control the decisions of private businesses. Frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way in this nation of free enterprise.
Still, it's undeniable that the influential weight of the Oval Office can wield much power in private industry operations.
That's what the folks were calling for at last week's rally. It's true that we need the president's support on this issue that's critically important to all of us who work and live in the Mahoning Valley.
To be clear, I was glad to see that federal assistance was announced last week to help retrain and employ these laid off auto workers.
Part of the $1.75 million National Dislocated Worker Grant announced Wednesday would start by helping about 337 of the 1,686 workers affected by the recent layoffs. More could be helped later.
Those funds go to help not only the displaced GM workers, but also workers at ancillary local supply companies who lost their jobs in trickle-down effects.
The federal grant announced last week provides resources to states and other eligible applicants in response to large, unexpected layoff events causing significant job losses by temporarily expanding access to employment and training services.
While all that is great, I'm guessing I'm not alone when I say I wish we didn't need the grant.
What we really need is some help from our president to wield some of that Oval Office power and influence.
This blue collar, heavily Democratic Valley turned red in its 2016 support of President Trump.
I hope the president keeps that in mind.