LORDSTOWN FALLOUT | Mahoning commissioners weigh in on GM

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners said they want to join with their Trumbull counterparts and ask President Donald Trump to meet in the Valley on GM Lordstown’s idling.

Commissioner David Ditzler, speaking during a Thursday morning meeting, said the first car he purchased was a cream-colored Chevrolet Vega which came off of the Lordstown line.

“I grew up when the plant was opening and a lot of our fathers were starting in Lordstown and working locally. It was a real sense of pride,” he said.

“The trickle-down effect — I think they say it’s four or five jobs for every job that’s lost — it’s not just about the GM Lordstown families, it’s about all of us,” Ditzler continued. “Every single one of us is going to be impacted in some way, shape or form.”

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said the Lordstown plant was, at one time, the company’s “No. 1 producer.”

“At the last hour, General Motors pulls this. I look at it as corporate greed and the workers are getting hammered,” he said. “They save money by moving [jobs] overseas and we allow that scenario to fester.

“They don’t pay the wages and standard-of-living that we do out here. There should be a penalty for companies that take our jobs away.”