061621,,,R MACAFEE...Warren...06-16-21...Tribune Chronicle/Vindicator sports editor Greg Macafee...by R. Michael Semple

Last week, former General Motors Lordstown Assembly plant employees, who are still active with the company, were given details of how they can transfer back to Lordstown and work at the battery-cell factory, Ultium Cells.

What a pleasant piece of news for workers who were forced to transfer from Lordstown just over five years ago after the plant closed and the last Chevrolet Cruze produced at the plant came off the line. This is not only good news for the former Lordstown employees, but also good news for the Mahoning Valley.

I’ve always been a firm believer in “home is where the heart is” and for several of the employees, the Valley may just be that. Roots were uplifted when the news was delivered the plant would close in Lordstown and it wasn’t just the employees who were affected. Residents had to leave behind family and friends, kids had to enroll in new schools and people had to start over.

Now all those changes could be erased.

I remember when I was younger and my mom was pursuing jobs in other states. All I wanted to do was stay in the town where I had spent the first 15 or 16 years of my life. I didn’t want to leave my friends, my school, the co-workers at my part-time job and my teammates.

We ultimately didn’t leave the small town I grew up in, but I would’ve done anything to stay if I had been forced to leave. That was the situation that GM Lordstown workers were presented with and some chose not to go. Some took a buyout and stayed in the area, some chose to retire and enter the next chapter of their life and about 1,200 workers chose to go elsewhere and continue their work. Now they have the chance to return if Ultium Cells is the right fit.

About 800 employees are eligible to return to Lordstown, and they have six months from March 11 to apply for a transfer. The amount that will transfer is still unknown and the window will close Sept. 13. The workers will keep their current wages, benefits and seniority if they transfer.

The letter employees received states employees who transfer are ineligible to transfer back to any UAW-GM facility “unless the employee is on indefinite layoff” from Ultium Cells. Simply put, if an eligible employee transfers back to Lordstown, they can’t transfer again unless the plant closes.

But here’s where the employees receive a benefit that I believe is rightfully due. To give employees the best idea of what they are walking into at Ultium Cells, they will be given an opportunity to tour the plant.

According to Josh Ayers, who is the United Auto Workers Local 1112 bargaining chairman, there are three days scheduled over Easter weekend for transfer-eligible employees to attend to see if they think their transfer would be a good idea. This way they can have the full picture of where they are transferring, what they will be doing and what type of environment they will be working in.

According to a letter earlier this month from GM to employees eligible to transfer, the positions that will be available in Lordstown will be for battery-cell manufacturing. Work will be available in such departments as electrode, cell formation, quality and material and maintenance.

Along with that, the letter stated that some employees will work in a clean / dry room and have to wear special personal protective equipment which includes a clean room suit, special work shoes, facemask / respirator, safety glasses and hat. The work environment and responsibilities will be entirely different from what they were before and transfer-eligible employees may want to take that into account when considering their move.

I believe that allowing employees to transfer back to Lordstown is a good idea, but I think having the opportunity to see if it would be a good fit is an even bigger benefit. Some employees may jump at the opportunity to transfer home and possibly return to their roots. However, five years is enough time to settle down and create roots in a new area. Uprooting a family again for a situation that may not be as good as their current one is a possibility.

So while I truly commend General Motors for providing the opportunity for eligible workers to return home to their roots, I commend them even further for giving the employees an option to. Whatever they decide, I’m glad they have a choice this time around.

Have an interesting story? Contact Greg Macafee by email at gmacafee@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter,

@greg_macafee