Trump rebukes GM, union over idling of Ohio plant
General Motors said in November that it would idle its Lordstown, Ohio, factory as part of broader cutbacks that would eliminate a total of 14,000 jobs. Nearly two weeks after the carmaker followed through on its plans, President Donald Trump appears to be fixated on seeing the factory reopen.
On Monday, Trump wrote in a message on Twitter that he wanted the Ohio plant “opened or sold to a company who will open it up fast!” He also urged GM to close a factory in China or Mexico instead of shutting the one in Lordstown.
The messages were the latest in recent volley by Trump as he tries to pressure GM and the United Automobile Workers union into beginning negotiations immediately on an agreement that would put the plant back to work.
Over the weekend, Trump had suggested that the Lordstown factory reopen “in a different form or with a new owner,” stressing that “time is of the essence!”
Trump also wrote that he had spoken with Mary Barra, GM’s chief executive, and had pressed her to sell the plant or “do something else quickly.” He also lashed out at David Green, president of UAW Local 1112, saying that Green “ought to get his act together and produce.”
The carmaker responded to Trump’s comments with a statement saying that “the ultimate future of the unallocated plants will be resolved between GM and the UAW.” The union said in its own Twitter post Monday that “corporations close plants, workers don’t,” while urging the president not to “let GM off the hook.”
Elected officials from Ohio were quick to defend the union.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, DOhio, who has criticized Trump’s inattention to the factory’s troubles in the past, chided the president Sunday for “attacking workers.” Green and Lordstown union members “have shown grit and determination in the face of adversity,” Brown wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat who represents the area in Congress, wrote on Twitter that Trump’s message about Green was “counterproductive and insulting.” Green had tried get in touch with Trump twice in hopes of getting his help, Ryan added, and had gotten no response.
When GM made its announcement in November, it said the Lordstown plant would be one of five factories in North America where it would stop production, with roughly 1,600 of the job cuts expected to come from the Ohio plant.
As part of its response to Trump’s Twitter barrage, the company said it had placed more than 1,000 employees from the affected factories in jobs at other GM plants.