Lordstown workers donate water to Flint

By Kalea Hall

khall@vindy.com

LORDSTOWN

In assembly-line fashion, Glenn Johnson, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, grabbed 24-pack of water after 24-pack of water and loaded them onto a truck.

Helping him was Robert Morales, UAW Local 1714 president, and others from 1714 who joined efforts with Local 1112 to collect water for the Flint, Mich., residents dealing with a lead-in-water crisis.

Today, Johnson and Morales will drive the water their members donated to the UAW locals with the Flint Assembly Plant and from there, it will get to the residents in need.

“It’s just unfathomable that any government agency can knowingly put the public at risk,” Johnson said. “We knew there was a need there. We didn’t know how bad it was.”

Locals 1112 and 1714 collected water from their members for 10 days.

Local 1112, which represents the assembly-plant workers at the General Motors Lordstown Assembly Plant where the Chevrolet Cruze is built, and Local 1714, which consists of fabrication-plant workers, collected 500 cases of water each.

Morales also had about $1,000 in monetary donations to purchase more water for Flint consumers when they arrive.

“It’s a great cause,” Morales said. “A lot of people stepped up to the plate. There’s true effort by our membership to help when needed.”

Both the Local 1112 and Local 1714 leadership are aware of the situation in Sebring, with cases of lead found in the water.

“We will reach out and see what we can do to help them,” Morales said.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came under criticism from the House for failing to inform Flint residents for close to a year that their drinking water was contaminated with lead.

House members said they would continue to investigate the crisis.

As the House had its hearing, senators acknowledged they have failed to reach agreement on an effort to secure $600 million in federal funding for Flint – a dispute that could derail discussion of a bipartisan energy bill.

Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, who represents Flint, testified before both the oversight committee and the House Budget Committee, where he sought aid for his hometown.

“Although the state has the moral responsibility to make this right, through our budget, the federal government can step in and ensure the citizens of Flint that they have their back,” he told the budget panel.

In 2014, the city made a switch and drew its water from the Flint River instead of the Detroit water system in an effort to save money. But the state did not require anti-corrosion chemicals to be added to the new water supply, causing iron, rust and toxic levels of lead to leach into residents’ water from the aging supply pipes connected to people’s homes.

Contributor: The Associated Press