500 new GM workers begin training

By HOLLY SCHOENSTEIN

The workers are attending orientation sessions this week.

LORDSTOWN — Hundreds of General Motors Corp. employees have been attending orientation sessions in recent weeks in preparation for new jobs at the Lordstown plant.

Five hundred workers are expected to report for training this week, said GM spokesman Chris Lee.

Groups of new hires and transferring employees from other plants have been gathering at Lordstown High School for the weeklong sessions, during which they learn about the company in general and its policies, workplace safety, benefits and the workers union. The workers are a combination of those hired to work the third shift, which GM announced was scheduled to start Aug. 4, and those hired as replacements for the company’s special attrition program that was effective July 1.

“We’re learning a whole lot,” said Barbara Allen, 50, of Warren, who moved back to the area June 1 after learning she was hired as a worker on the trim production line. She had been living out of town for 23 years.

Among the benefits of her new job are a higher starting wage at $14 per hour, which was 50 percent more than what she had made at her former job as a temporary worker, and the work experience she plans to add to her resume.

Allen has been scheduled to start a first-shift, two-week training period at the Lordstown plant Thursday.

And Allen is not the only new GM employee looking forward to starting work.

Warren resident Colette Quick, 42, has been hired to work second shift on the chassis production line. She said the working hours, medical benefits and employee assistance programs have been pluses for her.

The orientation sessions are scheduled to wrap up at the end of next week. Upon completion of the sessions, 1,400 workers will have attended the orientation.

hschoenstein@vindy.com