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GM Lordstown supplier announces permanent closure
AUSTINTOWN
Comprehensive Logistics Plant Announcement
Document
Source Providers, Inc., a subsidiary of Comprehensive Logisitics Co. and a supplier to the General Motors Lordstown plant, will permanently close, according to a United Steelworkers representative.
Just a few years ago, 600 people were employed at Source Providers Inc., which provides logistics and warehousing for the General Motors Lordstown plant.
Then GM cut the assembly plant’s third shift in early 2017. This summer, it cut the second shift. With each cut came layoffs at Source Providers, which has one client: GM Lordstown.
Then, on Wednesday, the final blow came: Comprehensive Logistics Co., parent company of Source Providers, announced it will permanently close the plant on Victoria Road. The closure will erase the 180 jobs that were left there, according to United Steelworkers Business Representative Jose Arroyo.
In an announcement sent to employees Wednesday and shared with The Vindicator, the company pointed directly to the Nov. 26 announcement by GM that it would idle the Lordstown plant next year, with no guarantee of a future product. The plant closure is expected to directly affect about 1,600 workers.
“The Comprehensive Logistics facility located in Austintown, Ohio, is 10 miles from Lordstown. The facility’s sole responsibility is to feed parts to positions on the Lordstown assembly line,” reads the letter signed by Jeff Peters, vice president, quality and GM business unit executive.
“CLI has been committed to servicing their Lordstown customer, which began in the late [’90s] through present day,” Peters wrote. “During the past 30-plus years the company has relied heavily on the dedication of its workforce that has worked through the transition of the [Chevy] Cavalier, Cobalt and now Cruze.”
Arroyo said he has not yet been given a date for the plant to close, but expects it will “be in tandem with the GM Lordstown shutdown,” which is slated for March 11.
Arroyo said the union representing Source Providers workers has requested a meeting with the company. He also said a membership meeting is planned to discuss assistance for workers who will be losing their jobs.
Arroyo called the closure “devastating.”
“This is a plant where we had a record contract three years ago. ... We were approximately 600 members. We were very optimistic about the future,” he said. “This is devastating right now for the steelworkers. ... We’re just very disappointed in GM’s decision to idle operations at Lordstown.”
The Comprehensive Logistics letter states the company will invite the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ Office of Workforce Development and other agencies into the workplace “to provide information to our workforce.” It also notes a state program for dislocated workers can help laid-off workers find new jobs.
“It is my hope that this workforce will continue the great tradition as a reliable service provider until the last Cruze rolls off the line,” the letter concludes.
Company representatives could not be immediately reached to comment.