President Goes On Tweet Storm Over Lordstown General Motors Plant Closure
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- In early March, the Lordstown, Ohio, General Motors plant closed just 75 miles from Pittsburgh, upending President Trump's words in Youngstown shortly after he became president about jobs coming back.
"They're all coming back. They're all coming back. Coming back," he told a crowd in 2017.
Well, not exactly.
So last fall when General Motors announced idling four plants in America, including Lordstown, the President was clearly irked.
"I was very tough," he said at the time, noting he had talked to GM CEO Mary Barra. "I said, 'This country has done a lot for General Motors. You better get back in there soon. That's Ohio. You better get back there soon.' We have a lot of pressure on them."
But that pressure had no impact on GM, so this weekend the President launched a tweet storm.
"Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors about the Lordstown, Ohio, plant. I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our country is BOOMING. I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union - I don't care, I just want it open!" the president tweeted.
Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors about the Lordstown Ohio plant. I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our Country is BOOMING. I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union — I don't care, I just want it open!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
That was followed up with more tweets urging GM and the UAW Union to start negotiating now, not next fall.
"General Motors and the UAW are going to start 'talks' in September/October. Why wait, start them now! 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! Car companies are all coming back to the U.S. So is everyone else. We now have the best economy in the world, the envy of all. Get that big, beautiful plant in Ohio open now. Close a plant in China or Mexico, where you invested so heavily pre-Trump, but not in the U.S.A. Bring jobs home!"
General Motors and the UAW are going to start "talks" in September/October. Why wait, start them now! 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! Car companies.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2019
....are all coming back to the U.S. So is everyone else. We now have the best Economy in the World, the envy of all. Get that big, beautiful plant in Ohio open now. Close a plant in China or Mexico, where you invested so heavily pre-Trump, but not in the U.S.A. Bring jobs home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2019
"We have everything here at the Lordstown complex to build GM's vehicles of the future, whatever they may be," UAW's Tim O'Hara told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Monday.
O'Hara is the Autoworkers vice president in Lordstown.
He said he's not surprised with the President's strong words.
"He told his supporters that he was going to bring jobs back to the area and they shouldn't sell their houses," O'Hara said. "Unfortunately, we've had a lot of our members that have had to leave the area and they have sold their houses."
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The Autoworkers clearly prefer to see GM reopen Lordstown, not have it sold to another company, as the President suggested.
Neither GM CEO Mary Barra nor GM has tweeted any response to the President, but GM did send the following statement to KDKA:
"To be clear, under the terms of the UAW-GM National Agreement, the ultimate future of the unallocated plants will be resolved between GM and the UAW. We remain open to talking with all affected stakeholders, but our main focus remains on our employees and offering them jobs in our plants where we have growth opportunities. We have now placed over 1,000 employees from our unallocated plants to other GM locations, and we have opportunities available for virtually all impacted employees."
At the moment, General Motors has given no indication that it is looking to reopen Lordstown or any of the other plants that just closed.
