COLUMBUS – “Show us the money.” Or, more accurately, show us the jobs.
That was the reaction from Ohio leaders to news that General Motors planned to invest $700 million and create 450 jobs at plants in Toledo, Parma and Moraine and that the automaker had found a buyer for the assembly plant in Lordstown, which closed earlier this year, idling over a thousand workers.
GM CEO Mary Barra told Gov Mike DeWine and others in a telephone call Wednesday that the company was in negotiations to sell the Lordstown plant to the Workhorse Group to make commercial electric trucks, but the proposed sale is subject to the approval of the UAW.
“As far as Lordstown, this is probably not yet the day to celebrate,” DeWine said, while hailing the rest of GM’s announcement as “good news.”
Ohio’s senators also talked to Barra and both said they wanted more specific information on the impact of the deal with Workhorse.
“It’s still too early to tell whether the proposed sale of Lordstown is good news for workers there,” Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said. “Workhorse is a leader in electric vehicle manufacturing and we are proud to have them call Ohio home, but GM cannot shirk its responsibility to these workers.”
Brown called on GM to provide more concrete answers on the number of jobs that would be created byt the sale and how much they would pay.
He also questioned why the automaker, which has committed to increasing its output of electric vehicles, would sell the plant rather than produce its own electric vehicles there.
“My message to GM all along has been either to bring a new GM vehicle to the plant or to find a partner that will use this world-class facility so people can get back to work. I look forward to hearing more from Workhorse about its plans to bring jobs to Lordstown, and I’m hopeful that this news will benefit the workers there,” said Republican Rob Portman.
Based in Cincinnati, Workhorse is a leader in electric vehicle manufacturing and plans to build commercial electric pickups at the Lordstown facility, founder Steve Burns said.