Valley works to rescue auto Union, politicians campaign to ‘Rev Up America’

By D.a. Wilkinson

One of every nine jobs is tied to the car industry, the local UAW president said.

YOUNGSTOWN — Officials and the United Auto Workers are working together on a plan to secure the Valley’s economy.

A “Rev Up America” campaign at the Mahoning Valley Phantoms’ game Friday night at the Chevrolet Centre was a mix of economic planning and resolve.

U.S. Reps. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and John Boccieri, congressman-elect, D-16th, outlined their plans for helping the American auto industry in general, and the GM Lordstown plant in particular.

Jim Graham, president of UAW Local 1112, told a full house, “We’ve been here for 100 years. We’re going to be here for another hundred years.”

He noted that one of every nine jobs is tied to the car industry, from the suppliers to the car plant to the people who supply the suppliers.

Boccieri said they hope to obtain a “bridge loan” to help the ailing industry.

About $25 billion of a proposed $700 billion bailout package for the U.S. economy has not been allocated. That money can go to “help support the millions of people in this industry,” he said.

The leaders of the Big Three automakers were greeted with scorn when they went to Washington recently in separate, pricey private planes to ask for help.

Boccieri and the other legislators said they are waiting for the companies to make their pitch. The auto executives are to present their plan Tuesday.

Part of the package for the industry would involve environmentally responsible programs to produce more cars that would run on ethanol, Boccieri said. Those technology advances could be used in other manufacturing sectors.

Ryan said the industry’s problems hit “every sector of our economy.” The plan would be for a “loan to retool and a loan for day-to-day” operations, he said.

Wilson agreed that the goal is to make the transition to cars that get 45 miles to the gallon.

Rich Pavick, a sales and leasing consultant at Spitzer Chevrolet in North Jackson, said business is good.

He just sold two cars and delivered another one, he said. Business is up, he said, because the company is offering tremendous incentives.

He added that some shoppers chose to buy cars rather than smaller-ticket items yesterday, the post-Thanksgiving retail frenzy known as Black Friday, when businesses normally break even for the year.

Pavick took his friend, Jim Gombas, of Youngstown, to the Phantoms game. Gombas said his home improvement business is much slower.

Barb Schlosser of Canfield is seeing both sides. She and other GM workers were just cut from the material department at Lordstown. She’s been working at the center because she likes hockey.

wilkinson@vindy.com