GM LORDSTOWN Talks turn to shift in work

GM considers adding an extra hour to Lordstown shifts if demand goes up.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- Union and company officials continue to work out how the General Motors' Lordstown complex will operate without its midnight shift.
One item being discussed is how to boost production if sales are more than expected, said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112.
In announcing the shift elimination last week, GM said the two remaining shifts could run up to nine hours, instead of eight, if more cars are needed. How often nine-hour shifts would be needed is unknown but it isn't expected to happen regularly, Graham said.
In recent years, overtime production has been scheduled for Saturdays whenever more cars are needed.
New model
Production estimates for this year are more uncertain than normal because the plant is adding a new model this summer. The plant will begin producing the Pontiac G5 for sale in this country, in addition to the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac models for Canada and Mexico.
Ben Strickland, Local 1112 shop chairman, will be in Detroit on Wednesday to talk to GM officials about the nine-hour shifts and other changes that stem from the shift reduction. The changes are to take effect this summer.
Dan Flores, a GM spokesman, said many details have yet to be worked out. Every job in the complex is being reviewed because the shift-elimination plan calls for speeding up the assembly line on the first and second shifts.
Part of the final plan will include how to increase production if demand warrants it, he said.
GM also has said it will add workers to the first and second shifts but hasn't said how many. With higher line speeds, the plant will produce 1,000 cars a day on two shifts, instead of the 1,300 a day on three shifts.
Also still to be resolved is how many of 1,100 assembly plant workers on the midnight shift will remain on that shift to maintain equipment, Graham said.
Fab plant
Jim Kaster, president of UAW Local 1714 at the adjacent fabricating plant, could not be reached to comment. This plant, which makes the underbody of the cars and other parts, has about 500 workers on its midnight shift.
Midnight workers who aren't placed onto another shifts will either be laid off or placed in a jobs bank, which guarantees workers 40 hours of pay a week even though they don't have production work. Laid-off workers would receive about 85 percent of their pay from state and supplemental benefits.
It is possible, however, that all of the midnight workers who are displaced will be needed on the other two shifts because GM is offering buyouts to encourage workers to retire or leave the company.
Graham said that more than 800 assembly plant workers have signed up for one-on-one meetings to learn more about the buyouts being offered. The number on the sign-up list is growing every day, he said.
Graham said the union will need until mid-May before it can estimate how many workers will leave under the buyout program.
About half of the 5,300 workers at the assembly and fabricating plants have at least 30 years of service. The program would give them a $35,000 payment in addition to their full retirement benefits. Other amounts are being offered for workers with less seniority.
Other plants
Two other GM assembly plants are eliminating third shifts this year -- the Moraine, Ohio, plant that makes the Chevrolet Trailblazer and GMC Envoy and the Oshawa, Ontario, plant that makes the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo.
After these changes, only three of GM's 28 production lines will have traditional three-shift operations. Two of those are low volume lines -- a line in Spring Hill, Tenn., that makes the Saturn Vue and a line in Wilmington, Del., that makes the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. The other three-shift line is in Oshawa and makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks.
A plant in Flint, Mich., runs three crews but only two shifts. Workers put in four 10-hour days each week. The plant makes the heavy-duty versions of the trucks produced in Oshawa.
shilling@vindy.com