LORDSTOWN, Ohio—Next month, General Motors’ Lordstown Complex will no longer have two separate
United Auto Workers locals. The UAW announced in September that Local 1714, which represents fabrication workers, would be merged into Local 1112, the assembly-plant union. The merger was part of a deal to help GM save money at the sprawling northeast-Ohio facility. UAW leaders “announced it with the understanding that this was necessary to keep us in the position to keep us building cars in Lordstown and be competitive,” Local 1714 President Robert Morales told the Youngstown Vindicator. “It was making us more competitive and profitable as a complex. This is the only plant with two unions.” The formal announcement came the same day that GM said it would continue building the Chevrolet Cruze at Lordstown for as long as it was manufactured in North America. The two unions had been separate for the almost 50 years the complex has operated because fabrication-plant and assembly-line workers believed they had different issues, but the amount of fabrication work has declined drastically. The merger needs to be completed by Dec. 1. The two locals are now working to combine their contracts and arrange their 3,000 members by seniority. Read more
