Editorials

Chamber award to GM focuses on future, not past

No one knows better than residents of this Mahoning Valley about picking ourselves up after being knocked down.

We all remember that dark day, Sept. 19, 1977, when thousands of steelworkers lost their jobs with the shuttering of Youngstown Sheet & Tube's Campbell Works, following by a domino effect of other area steel mills.

Our region survived and rebuilt, ultimately turning our manufacturing focus to automaking.

Another big blow came with the 2005 loss of nearly 5,000 Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric hourly and salaried jobs after the nation's largest auto parts supplier declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Then, General Motors, which just a few years ago employed more than 4,500 workers here, eliminated shifts and eventually announced it would close its local complex in March 2019 after sales of the Chevrolet Cruze declined and the Detroit automaker determined the future of the industry no longer was in small cars but in larger vehicles like trucks and SUVs and in electric automobiles.

Facing layoffs triggered by GM's business decision, hundreds of United Auto Workers members opted to leave the area and head to GM plants in other parts of the nation.

But once again, the Valley is picking itself up, this time with the help of GM and the auto giant's partnership with South Korean-based LG Chem.

GM promised it would not abandon our area, and it has not.

Hundreds of skilled trades workers proudly have been constructing, beam by beam, the new 2.8 million-square-foot structure in Lordstown that will be home to a new high-tech battery-cell manufacturing plant.

The investment from GM and LG Chem? Some $2.3 billion.

The joint partnership is being called Ultium Cells LLC, but it was GM that drove the bus on site selection, the new construction and negotiations for details on issues such as utility placement.

Frankly, without GM's commitment to stay in our Valley, the new plant would not be coming here.

It was that decision by GM to make the massive new investment in the future of automaking right here that led the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber to honor General Motors with its annual Spirit of the Valley Award, an award given annually to recognize work done to impact our community positively.

The award will be presented to GM today at the Chamber's annual meeting.

Since the announcement was made, many former GM workers here and United Auto Workers members who lost their jobs or faced relocation to new plants in other parts of the country have lashed out at GM's selection.

The reasoning behind their ire is not lost. We understand their frustration.

But we also understand the commitment that GM has made to come back to our Valley with new jobs for our hard-working labor force.

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber, recently said this: "I think what happened in the past was heart-wrenching, but … I prefer to look forward and with the glass half full, and as a result of these investments, the community has an opportunity to be at the forefront of an emerging industry, that being electric-vehicle manufacturing."

This plant, Coviello said, will create a positive ripple in the supply and service provider chains by companies that want to be close to and do business with Ultium Cells.

The very definition of "spirit" includes words like "energy," "determination" and "assertiveness." Indeed, General Motors has embodied this by its commitment and determination not to abandon our Valley, but rather to help us to rebound with a significant role in the very strong and long-term future of electric-vehicle manufacturing.

editorial@tribtoday.com

Editorials

Chamber award to GM focuses on future, not past

No one knows better than residents of this Mahoning Valley about picking ourselves up after being knocked down.

We all remember that dark day, Sept. 19, 1977, when thousands of steelworkers lost their jobs with the shuttering of Youngstown Sheet & Tube's Campbell Works, following by a domino effect of other area steel mills.

Our region survived and rebuilt, ultimately turning our manufacturing focus to automaking.

Another big blow came with the 2005 loss of nearly 5,000 Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric hourly and salaried jobs after the nation's largest auto parts supplier declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Then, General Motors, which just a few years ago employed more than 4,500 workers here, eliminated shifts and eventually announced it would close its local complex in March 2019 after sales of the Chevrolet Cruze declined and the Detroit automaker determined the future of the industry no longer was in small cars but in larger vehicles like trucks and SUVs and in electric automobiles.

Facing layoffs triggered by GM's business decision, hundreds of United Auto Workers members opted to leave the area and head to GM plants in other parts of the nation.

But once again, the Valley is picking itself up, this time with the help of GM and the auto giant's partnership with South Korean-based LG Chem.

GM promised it would not abandon our area, and it has not.

Hundreds of skilled trades workers proudly have been constructing, beam by beam, the new 2.8 million-square-foot structure in Lordstown that will be home to a new high-tech battery-cell manufacturing plant.

The investment from GM and LG Chem? Some $2.3 billion.

The joint partnership is being called Ultium Cells LLC, but it was GM that drove the bus on site selection, the new construction and negotiations for details on issues such as utility placement.

Frankly, without GM's commitment to stay in our Valley, the new plant would not be coming here.

It was that decision by GM to make the massive new investment in the future of automaking right here that led the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber to honor General Motors with its annual Spirit of the Valley Award, an award given annually to recognize work done to impact our community positively.

The award will be presented to GM today at the Chamber's annual meeting.

Since the announcement was made, many former GM workers here and United Auto Workers members who lost their jobs or faced relocation to new plants in other parts of the country have lashed out at GM's selection.

The reasoning behind their ire is not lost. We understand their frustration.

But we also understand the commitment that GM has made to come back to our Valley with new jobs for our hard-working labor force.

Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber, recently said this: "I think what happened in the past was heart-wrenching, but … I prefer to look forward and with the glass half full, and as a result of these investments, the community has an opportunity to be at the forefront of an emerging industry, that being electric-vehicle manufacturing."

This plant, Coviello said, will create a positive ripple in the supply and service provider chains by companies that want to be close to and do business with Ultium Cells.

The very definition of "spirit" includes words like "energy," "determination" and "assertiveness." Indeed, General Motors has embodied this by its commitment and determination not to abandon our Valley, but rather to help us to rebound with a significant role in the very strong and long-term future of electric-vehicle manufacturing.