Lordstown's 3rd shift anticipating this month's furloughs

LORDSTOWN

Marquis Brown likes his job installing hoods on the Chevrolet Cruze inside the stamping plant at the Lordstown General Motors Assembly Complex.

But come Jan. 23, Brown will be laid off along with more than 1,000 others.

“I am still out there trying to build quality cars until that last day,” said Brown, 30, of Youngstown. “I tell folks complaining or being depressed about this doesn’t change the fact that it happened.”

The news of the third shift ending at Lordstown hit hard. GM made the announcement the day after Election Day in November.

The automaker said production of the compact car needed to be scaled back because consumer demand has switched to utility vehicles.

“I guess the way it came about was a shock,” Brown said. “The morale in the plant was down and is still down.”

But both Brown and Matt Streb, 36, of Austintown, who also works in the stamping plant, know this is unfortunate, but not unprecedented.

“It’s the nature of the business,” Streb said. “We know how important Lordstown is for the [Mahoning] Valley, so we hope it’s short-term.”

A total of 1,245 workers – 1,202 hourly and 43 salary – will be affected by the cut of the third shift.

Read more about the situation in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.