LORDSTOWN — Former General Motors Lordstown Assembly plant employees still active with the automaker have six months from Monday to apply for a transfer to work at battery-cell factory Ultium Cells.

That’s one of the pieces of information GM released Monday afternoon after confirming in the morning the company, according to spokesman Kevin Kelly, had begun to communicate details to “eligible represented employees … on how to express their desire to transfer to job openings” at the electric-vehicle battery-cell manufacturing plant in Lordstown.

“The transfers will be in accordance with our 2023 GM-UAW National Labor contract as openings at Ultium occur,” Kelly said in an emailed statement.

Kelly declined to discuss further details on the transfers.

But, he also confirmed GM has “made the required settlement” on nearly $8 million in backpay following an arbitrator’s ruling that determined the automaker violated its contract with the union by closing three plants, including Lordstown Assembly, in 2019.

TRANSFERS

Ultium Cells is a joint venture between GM and South Korea’s LG Energy Solutions to mass produce battery cells to provide capacity to support the Detroit automaker’s EV assembly in North America.

The facility in Lordstown launched production toward the end of 2022. At last count, the plant employed approximately 2,000 people, according to an Ultium Cells spokeswoman.

When UAW union members approved a new contract with GM in November, it brought Ultium Cells employees into the national agreement, which contains language that allows displaced Lordstown assembly plant workers to return home.

The contract provides for a six-month window for former Lordstown assembly plant employees working at the plant on Nov. 26, 2018, to apply to work at the battery factory. The six-month transfer application period ends Sept. 13. They would keep their current wages, benefits and seniority if they transfer to Ultium Cells.

The spokeswoman with Ultium Cells directed questions to GM. An email seeking comment also was sent to UAW Local 1112, which represents union workers at the plant.

A letter sent Monday from GM to eligible UAW workers contains more details.

It states during the six months, transfer eligibility will be determined on the 15th of each month for the following month’s job openings, and selected employees who transfer to Ultium Cells will do so as GM leased employees.

The first job openings will be posted April 15, according to other information given to employees Monday.

Also, the letter states eligible employees who transfer outside the Ultium Cells area will be eligible for a relocation allowance, but those who transfer are ineligible to transfer back to any UAW-GM facility “unless the employee is on indefinite layoff” from Ultium Cells.

The letter states positions at Ultium Cells are for battery-cell manufacturing. The work departments are electrode, cell formation, quality, material and maintenance.

“More than 60% of employees work in a clean / dry room for cell process and are required to wear special personal protective equipment, including clean room suit, special work shoes, face mask / respirator, safety glasses and hat,” the letter states.

SETTLEMENT

The settlement award includes payments for lost overtime, 401(k) and pension contributions, performance bonuses and nearly $800,000 in interest, according to a Dec. 5 letter on UAW’s website.

The factories were the small-car assembly plant in Lordstown, which employed more than 1,000 workers making the Chevrolet Cruze when it closed in March 2019, the Baltimore Operations transmission plant in White Marsh, Maryland, and the Warren Transmission Plant in Warren, Michigan.

GM announced in November 2018 it was placing five plants, including Lordstown, on “unallocated status.” Two factories, however, ultimately remained open — Detroit Hamtramck is now GM’s Factory Zero to produce electric vehicles, as did a factory in Oshawa, Ontario, near Toronto, where a version of the popular Chevrolet Silverado is now produced.

The Lordstown facility was the first to idle, followed by Baltimore Operations in May 2019 and Warren, Michigan, in August 2019.

The UAW ended up suing GM in federal court to try to keep the plants open, arguing the automaker side-stepped a plant-closing moratorium agreement from October 2015 that states GM committed not to close or idle the plants during the term of the 2015 GM / UAW national agreement.

The arbitration was the result of an October 2019 settlement of the case.

Have an interesting story? Contact Business Editor Ron Selak Jr. at rselak@tribtoday.com.