Workers at GM Powertrain’s Baltimore Transmission Plant will break this weekend for a two-week paid holiday vacation, but face an uncertain future when they return.
President Bush on Friday approved $17.4 billion in rescue loans for U.S. automakers. But GM plans to close 20 of its plants across the country in January, including three which receive parts from the White Marsh facility.
Work stoppages at those plants will likely trigger temporary layoffs locally, White Marsh facility spokesman John Raut said.
“It would be fair to say that the trickle down in regard to shutting down those plants will eventually affect the White Marsh Plant,” Raut said. “Right now they have not made any announcements as far as powertrain facilities.”
Union representatives have also not heard details yet of how plant closings in Pontiac and Flint, Mich., and Arlington, Texas, will affect the 239 hourly workers and 61 salaried employees at the White Marsh plant, said Fred Swanner, president of the plant’s United Auto Workers Local 239.
Swanner said union members were pleased to hear the news Friday of the government’s action, but said some retirees were “pretty upset” that it took so long to happen. Retirees were also concerned about the prospect of bankruptcy, recalling the loss of another major local employer, he said.
“Most of them are having flashbacks about Bethlehem Steel,” Swanner said. “This is Baltimore, we saw what happened when they went to bankruptcy court.”
Announcing the investment in the automakers, Bush said, “The time to make hard decisions, to become viable is now, or the only option will be bankruptcy. The automakers and unions must understand what is at stake and make hard decisions necessary to reform.”
Some $13.4 billion of the money would be available this month and next — $9.4 billion of it for General Motors. GM is slated to receive the remaining $4 billion in loans after more money is released from the financial rescue account.
Under terms of the loans, the government will have the option of becoming a stockholder in the companies, much as it has with major banks, in effect partially nationalizing the industry.
