Local 1112 pose with the final cruise that went through the GM-Lordstown assembly line on March 6, 2019. File photo

EDITOR’S NOTE: This concludes The Vindicator’s countdown of Top 10 stories of 2019 as selected by the newsroom staff.

LORDSTOWN — It was March 6 in the afternoon when the last General Motors-made vehicle — a white Chevrolet Cruze LS with black interior — rolled off the production line at the automaker’s assembly plant in Lordstown.

The sprawling 6.2-million-square foot facility was idled; it’s 1,500 workers left sickened, saddened, angered and frustrated.

“As the car came through, there were a lot of tears,” said Tim O’Hara, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 “It was tough to see, especially for me. I spent 41 years in there on the assembly line and even though I wasn’t actually building that last car, I could definitely relate to what they were going through.”

“It was an emotional day. It was one I will never forget and I’m sure they will never forget that for the rest of their lives,” O’Hara said.

Many workers left that day holding onto the thinnest thread of hope GM’s top brass could be persuaded during summer contract negotiations with United Auto Workers to assign a new production vehicle. But when details of the new agreement were released in mid-October, the hopes were dashed; the contract allowed the automaker to close Lordstown and plants in Warren, Mich., and near Baltimore.

The mood of UAW Local 1112’s remaining and old members who transferred to other GM plants, but returned to the Mahoning Valley because of the prolonged UAW strike, was consistent with their feelings in March, and they showed their disappointment at the polls by overwhelmingly rejecting GM’s offer.

The wheels of the closure were set in motion Nov. 26, 2018, when GM announced plans to idle those plants, the Detroit-Hamtramck plant and one in Canada as it repositions its production toward trucks, SUVs and electric vehicles. Detroit-Hamtramck was given a reprieve and allowed to stay open.

Local UAW officials and elected, economic development and community leaders put on an all out grassroots blitz — the Drive It Home Ohio campaign — to change GM’s mind.

Some of what Drive It Home Ohio did included a letter writing effort led by students at about 20 local school districts, traveling to Detroit’s auto show to support Ohio Gov. and Lt. Gov. Mike DeWine and Jon Husted in their January meeting with GM CEO Mary Barra and also going to Columbus to meet with state leaders to maintain support for the effort.

They also sent heart-shaped containers with personlized M&M’s to Barra and members of GM’s board of directors to remind them of the importance of GM’s Lordstown plant.

The efforts, however, weren’t successful. GM was dug in, and had been that way on Lordstown since at least the DeWine and Husted meeting in January.

“They made it very clear at that point that they were not assigning another product,” Husted said.

It was May when the announcement was made GM was in talks to sell the plant to an unnamed buyer affiliated with Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group Inc. It was later revealed that Lordstown Motors was the potential buyer and planned to produce battery-powered pickup trucks for fleets. The company also now plans to produce the truck for passenger use.

The sale finalized Nov. 7. It was for $20 million. Lordstown Motors has plans to start production of the Endurance pickup truck by late 2020. It’s founder Steve Burns, who also founded Workhorse, said the plant would initially employ about 400, but that could go as high as 5,000 on three shifts at full production.

Burns has said he wants the plant’s workers to be UAW represented. O’Hara said he has had a conversation with a Lordstown Motors official, but details of organizing would be handled by UAW offices in Detroit.

xxxxxxxx

Vehicles built at GM Lordstown in its 53 years

1966-70 — Chevrolet Caprice, Impala, Bel Air and Biscayne

1967-69 — Pontiac Firebird

1971-77 — Chevrolet Vega

1971-94 — Chevrolet Van / GMC Vandura

1975-77 — Pontiac Astre

1977-80 — Chevrolet Monza and Pontiac Sunbird

1978-79 — Buick Skyhawk and Oldsmobile Starfire

1982-94 — Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire

1998-2005 — Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire

2005-09 — Pontiac G5, Pursuit and G4

2005-10 — Chevrolet Cobalt

2011-19 — Chevrolet Cruze

xxxxxxxx

Recap of the Top 10 news stories of the year

10. Environmental group continues to fight Enterprise Park

9. Conflict between fire union, Youngstown administration grows

8. Officer involved shooting in Niles started year with lots of questions

7. Tim Ryan runs, and then withdraws, from presidential race

6. TJX chooses Lordstown for HomeGoods warehouse

5. Youngstown gets new community amphitheater

4. Claudia Hoerig’s trial ended 12-year flight from justice

3. Battery plant slated for Valley

2. Vindicator closes, Tribune takes it on