The new president of Lordstown’s United Auto Workers union is facing the elimination of another shift and making a vehicle that the company says customers are shifting away from.
David Green was sworn in yesterday as the new president of Local 1112, which represents assembly workers at GM’s Lordstown plant. The union also now includes fabrication plant workers – previously Local 1714 – of which Green was the president from 2007 until 2013.
That’s the time period when GM retooled Lordstown to build the Chevy Cruze. It was initially a big seller but the plant will be down to one shift next month due to what the company says is shrinking demand for fuel-efficient sedans.
Green says his priority as president will be to convince GM to send more products to the Lordstown plant.
“The corporation, their tax rate went down from 35 percent down [to] 22, under the new Trump tax plan. This is billions of dollars that they’re saving in tax revenue. We want them to invest that money in America.”
Green says that includes gearing up the Lordstown plant to build larger vehicles, which he hopes will bring back some of the 2,700 jobs lost over the past two years when the plant eliminated its third shift, then cuts its second shift last month.
