President Donald Trump is increasing pressure on General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers to re-open Lordstown Assembly in Northeast Ohio days before…
President Donald Trump is increasing pressure on General Motors Co. and the United Auto Workers to re-open Lordstown Assembly in Northeast Ohio days before the president is expected to make a campaign stop in the Midwestern swing state.
The president took to Twitter over the weekend and early Monday morning to repeatedly chastise the union and GM over the closure of Lordstown Assembly, which stopped production of the Chevrolet Cruze earlier this month. Lordstown is one of four U. S. plants whose futures will be decided later this year during a re-negotiation of the UAW-GM National Contract.
« General Motors and the UAW are going to start ‘talks’ in September/October. Why wait, start them now!, » Trump tweeted Monday morning. « I want jobs to stay in the U. S. A. and want Lordstown (Ohio), in one of the best economies in our history, opened or sold to a company who will open it up fast! »
The president is scheduled Wednesday to make a re-election campaign stop at the Lima Army Tank Plant in northwestern Ohio.
The UAW’s contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV expire on Sept. 14, and bargaining usually ramps up by Labor Day with a formal start to « talks » usually taking place in June or July. The union kicked off the bargaining season last week at the Special Convention, where delegates and international leaders gathered to set the agenda for 2019 negotiations.
« You can’t really bully the union or (GM) into doing things that they wouldn’t already do, » said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research.
