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GM CEO Mary Barra writes To Valley students
LORDSTOWN
GM CEO Mary Barra wrote to students in the Mahoning Valley, thanking them for sending drawings and letters to her during the holiday season that asked the automaker to invest in growing jobs at GM Lordstown.
Mary Barra New Letter
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GM CEO Mary Barra wrote to students in the Mahoning Valley, thanking them for sending drawings and letters to her during the holiday season that asked the automaker to invest in growing jobs at GM Lordstown.
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your pictures with me. I see how much you care about your family, friends, and community, and I understand why you are sad and worried. I want you to know I care about them, and about you,” CEO Barra writes.
“Like you, I am proud of them and grateful for the years they’ve been part of our GM family. We’re working hard to continue finding ways to support them and your community,” Barra writes.
“We’re starting by offering jobs at other GM plants for many of the Lordstown workers. We’re also partnering with the United Way in your neighborhoods to help families who decide not to relocate to another GM plant,” Barra writes before thanking the students for being involved in their community.
“I think the emotional, heart-felt message from the more than 5,000 students who sent CEO Barra either a letter or drew a picture had an impact. We remain hopeful that General Motors will recognize we have the hardest working, most dedicated people in the world right her in the Mahoning Valley, and the we have been part of the GM family for 53 years and you don’t turn your back on family,” said UAW Local 1112 President and Drive It Home Ohio co-chair Dave Green.
“I was pleased to see that Ms. Barra saw the letters and drawings and actually replied back to the students, families, teachers and administrators here in the Mahoning Valley. Like her, we are proud of them and grateful for the way they all support their community and GM Lordstown. She now understands how this community is unified and ready to help General Motors move into the next generation of auto manufacturing,” said James Dignan, President of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber and Drive It Home Ohio co-chair.
“We talked to a General Motors representative and he said they looked at every drawing and read every letter. The letter from CEO Barra is to all the students at our schools in the Mahoning Valley who stepped up for workers. We are grateful to them, their families, their teachers and administrators,” said Terry Armstrong, Superintendent of the Lordstown Local School District.
Bob Hannon, president of United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, said previously that the loss of jobs at GM Lordstown could affect the United Way.
GM has announced it plans to idle five of its North American plants, including the Lordstown complex. The automaker also will stop making the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze; the plant is “unallocated” after March 1, meaning there is not another product lined up to make. Whether that shutdown will be permanent is not yet clear and likely will be determined during negotiations between the corporation and the United Auto Workers union next year. Layoffs are estimated to be about 1,500 jobs.
In addition, 468 people lost their jobs after Northside Regional Medical Center’s Sept. 20 closure.
“Right now GM corporate is committed to supporting us for two years,” Hannon said. “But unless something changes, we anticipate a significant impact on the United Way.”
Still, Hannon said he remains confident and optimistic about its future.