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100 GM temps to become full time
lordstown
General Motors has come to an agreement with United Auto Workers Local 1112 to convert 100 temporary workers at the Lordstown plant to full time.
The change means additional job security for those 100 employees, said Jim Graham, president of UAW 1112. The additional full-time jobs are not simply good for workers but also are a good sign of how the Cruze is selling, Graham added.
“What it also means is we have cars that are selling extremely well, and we need the extra people,” he said.
“The Cruze is selling very well in both the United States and Europe,” Graham said.
The change will be made within the next couple of weeks, according to a news release from the labor union.
Any time the plant is able to add workers, it’s good for the workers, good for the company and good for the community, said Tom Mock, plant spokesman for GM Lordstown.
It is unknown at this time whether GM will need to add additional temporary workers at the plant, he said.
“We constantly monitor line production and demand and will increase production to go along with demand,” Mock said.
Graham said UAW 1112 still is looking at the potential impact of adding the diesel line for the Cruze in 2013.
“We’re still working out the figures. It may cause us to put on a few more workers,” he said.
At this point, there is no way of determining how the diesel line would impact demand, Mock said.
The Cruze is GM’s best- selling vehicle worldwide. There were 39,400 of the vehicles sold in Europe alone in 2011.
In the U.S., more than 20,000 Cruze vehicles were sold just in February this year, according to GM.
This was the sixth- consecutive month in which more than 20,000 vehicles were sold worldwide.
There also have been six-straight months of sales growth for the Cruze, according to GM.