GM recovery gives employees the possibility of ‘going home’

General Motors is involved in a “reunification” effort that makes sense for the company and its employees.

During the downturn in the U.S. auto industry and the restructuring of GM, employees facing the loss of their jobs at one plant used their right to transfer to other plants, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

That they did so is a tribute to the work ethic of the men and women who were willing to uproot their families in order to keep working, or to take on long commutes that separated families for days or even weeks. It is also a stark testament to the fact that a job in auto making is not the kind of job that is easily replaced. There are too few manufacturing jobs left that allow a family to live what used to be taken for granted as the American dream.

Across the corporation, some 6,500 employees availed themselves of the relocation option.

At Lordstown, there are employees who still have families in Michigan or on the East Coast, and at least one employee transferred here from Alabama.

The climate has changed

Now, as General Motors continues to turn out cars that are successes in the marketplace — the Lordstown-built Cruze among them — General Motors is hiring new employees. And so it only makes sense to see if some of those displaced workers want to go home again.

To that end, General Motors and the United Auto Workers union are cooperating on a survey to find out how many employees would like to transfer among plants.

There are no guarantees at this point, but the effort has the potential for being a win-win.

Those employees who did what they had to do to keep their jobs but remain separated from families, friends and homesteads, may have an opportunity to turn back the clock. Those who are happy with their change are free to remain, but know that the company was willing to provide an option. That’s a morale booster.

And GM knows that making reasonable efforts to accommodate its employees results in better productivity.

Employees have until July 17 to submit a survey. There are no guarantees that any specific request can be honored, but it’s certain that an effort is being made to reunite families, and that’s a fringe benefit that can’t be overvalued.