Documentary features Lordstown GM workers, Trump promises

Staff report

LORDSTOWN

For Our Future Ohio, a progressive nonprofit and political action committee, released a documentary featuring General Motors workers this week as negotiations begin in Detroit between the United Autoworkers and GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

GM shuttered its Lords-town plant in March, leaving 1,600 workers without jobs, with some transferring to other facilities.

The documentary was directed by Tom Egan earlier this year, and highlights comments President Donald Trump made when he visited Youngstown in 2017, telling workers not to sell their houses because jobs were coming back to the Mahoning Valley.

The documentary also features clips from rallies and vigils hosted by the community before the plant closed. Inside their homes and at the plant, GM workers talk about those comments and the situation they face.

“What we tried to do in the documentary is show how policies and broken promises can negatively impact the community, but it’s not just negative. This is a story of union members and the community coming together,” said Daniel van Hoogstraten, a producer of the documentary and For Our Future Ohio's communications director.

He was struck by the resilience of the community and the significance GM had in workers’ lives as a well-paying union job.

“The other thing is looking at global trade policies like tariffs; they can seem far off and disconnected from our daily lives, but we are trying to send a message about the impacts of these policies” he said.

The documentary can be viewed at https://promisesbrokendoc.com.