GM Closing Moraine Plant

  • Posted by Joseph
  • June 3, 2008

More bad news for Ohio’s workers: I just heard on CNN that GM is going to close its assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio. The plant currently employs 2,500 workers and makes trucks and SUVs.

GM also announced that they will be adding a third shift to the Lordstown plant that makes the Cobalt.

High gas prices have decreased demand for trucks and increased demand for more efficient compact cars like the Cobalt. That, I suppose, is some good news for the people in Lordstown and for the environment.

Now if only we had a Casino in Ohio we could save money on gas and put some of these people back to work dealing cards.

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June 3rd, 2008
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Amber
Posted on:
June 3, 2008 at 9:00 am

Or maybe some investment in green jobs would help!

By this estimate, nearly 20,000 manufacturing jobs would be created in Ohio with some investment in wind and solar power:
http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/atf/cf/%7B3637E5F0-D0EA-46E7-BB32-74D973EFF334%7D/REI-OHIO-summary.pdf

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Brian
Posted on:
June 4, 2008 at 7:55 am

OK, so not directly related to GM - it’s about the Ford F150 - Top Gear ravishes the vehicle as being absolute rubbish. (They like to make jokes about the stereotypes of Americans being unsophisticated rubes and the English being snobby elites. So turn down your outrage meters and get the joke.)

Frankly, it’s astonishing to me how many people buy pickup trucks (and then virtually never actual do anything that would require a truck). My father-in-law has a 2004 Silverado 2500HD for hauling the horse trailer, and it’s got 11K miles on it. My wife’s car is in the shop right now, so we’re using the truck as a daily driver, and it absolutely guzzles the gas. It’s huge, doesn’t fit in most parking spaces, and is remarkably unwieldy.

But it’s good at hauling the horse trailer, so that’s why we have it - and that’s why it sits unused most of the time.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Eric
Posted on:
June 4, 2008 at 9:01 am

Well, Moraine made gas guzzling SUVs, so in this economy it’s not quite surprising that they’d shutter this plant. Having worked in it in two different capacities it is really quite a shame. It has a world class paint shop and you’d think it could have been retooled (and may still) for cars better suited to modern times.

Here’s an interesting observation about Germany. I didn’t see a single SUV or truck in the first 3 days I was there. When I did, they were in a great minority to the other vehicles. People rode light rail, bicycles, and drove smartcars along with some larger sedans. But other than the occasional work truck or van, you saw very few vehicles used out of class (ie: single woman in suburban).

It’s really a cultural thing. We’d probably change should we pay a real price for fuel and become forced to modify how we live. It’s why I’m not a big fan of the whining about gas prices and using it as a political tool. We’re getting off cheap at $4/gal.