GM workers from Mich., Ind. to start arriving

Staff report

lordstown

Laid-off workers from General Motors plants in Michigan and Indiana must decide soon whether to accept offers to fill some of the positions available at the Lordstown assembly complex.

The Lordstown facility will take on about 275 new workers this year as the plant accelerates production of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 at the East Complex.

The new employees are expected to arrive in November and December, he added.

The Lordstown West Complex is adding 100 positions, with the first wave arriving Nov. 8, said David Green, president of UAW Local 1714, which represents workers at the fabrication plant.

The new workers will come primarily from GM’s plants in Orion, Mich., and Indianapolis, he said.

The number of new positions available at the Lords-town Complex is not set in stone, said plant spokesman Tom Mock.

“We are reviewing our manpower requirements for the rest of the year,” Mock said. “We hope to have it buttoned up by the end of this month.”

An undisclosed number of offers were made last week to workers who were laid off from the Orion Township plant at the UAW’s first-tier wage.

The Orion plant will take on a two-tier pay structure when it restarts production Aug. 1 on a Chevrolet subcompact and the new Buick Verano. Only 60 percent of the plant’s work force will make the traditional $28 hourly wage, while 40 percent will make a second-tier wage of about $14.50 per hour.

About 1,600 workers have been laid off from the Orion plant, including 500 already at the lower rate.

Workers who accept a transfer to Lordstown will retain rights to return to Orion for future openings.

Besides these workers, GM will not hire any more tier-one workers at Orion as the company moves the plant toward an all- second-tier work force.

Orion’s two-tier structure, which allows GM to make a profitable small car domestically, does not affect the company’s other manufacturing plants.

Lordstown also expects to see some transfers from GM’s Indianapolis Metal Center, which is closing this month after workers rejected a nearly 50 percent pay cut.