Finance International News

GM Sends Manufacturing Jobs to South Korea as U.S. Workers Are Laid Off

General Motors (GM) executives announced this week that two of their vehicles will be produced in South Korea as American workers in Lordstown, Ohio are left jobless after their GM plant closure and other Americans’ jobs at the corporation hang in the balance.

At the end of last year, GM CEO Mary Barra announced that the corporation would soon lay off 14,700 workers in the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, the corporation’s production in China and Mexico have remained unaffected, much like Barra’s continued annual salary of $22 million.

While the Lordstown, Ohio Assembly Plant has already been idled by GM, also slated to close this year are GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck and Warren Transmission plants in Michigan and the Baltimore Operations plant in Maryland.



EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul
Hegseth hints major defense spending increase, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narcoterrorism operations
Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes
Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run
Photos: Incredibly Creepy New Epstein Island Photos Released – Chilling Masks, Eerie Dentist Chair, Weird Writing on Chalkboard
Fact Check: Do Somalis Contribute More to Minnesota’s Bottom Line Than They Take?
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Biden, Man Dems Said Could Serve Four More Years as President, Cannot Pronounce Name of His Own Country
Fact Check: No, Trump Did Not Call for the Deaths of Democrat Senators Who Urged Military to Disobey Orders – Here’s the Proof
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
See also  Ghislaine Maxwell pushes back on full transparency for Epstein files

Closing the Lordstown plant resulted in the immediate layoff of about 1,600 American workers, and since 2017, GM has laid off about 4,500 American workers in Ohio. The GM plant closure is also expected to leave more than 8,000 American workers jobless in Lordstown and the surrounding area, as well as cut out about $8 billion in economic activity in the area. Already, more than 900 workers in supporting industries have been put out of work.

Though thousands of American workers have been left jobless and others’ careers with the corporation are set to come to a close, GM has its sights set on producing and manufacturing new vehicles in South Korea.


EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul
Hegseth hints major defense spending increase, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narcoterrorism operations
Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes
Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run
Photos: Incredibly Creepy New Epstein Island Photos Released – Chilling Masks, Eerie Dentist Chair, Weird Writing on Chalkboard
Fact Check: Do Somalis Contribute More to Minnesota’s Bottom Line Than They Take?
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Biden, Man Dems Said Could Serve Four More Years as President, Cannot Pronounce Name of His Own Country
Fact Check: No, Trump Did Not Call for the Deaths of Democrat Senators Who Urged Military to Disobey Orders – Here’s the Proof
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
See also  Stefanik blasts Johnson, GOP as ‘getting rolled’ by House Democrats

The 2021 Chevy Trailblazer, for example, is set to be made in South Korea. GM executives expect the South Korean-made vehicle to be imported to U.S. showrooms by 2020.

Likewise, GM plans to manufacture its 2020 Buick Encore GX in South Korea, importing the vehicle to the U.S. for American consumers. Currently, GM imports its Buick Encore to the U.S. from South Korea as well.

Barra’s decision to increase production in South Korea while laying off American workers and plans to shut down a total of four U.S. manufacturing plants speaks to the corporation’s willingness to outsource and offshore jobs to cut labor costs.

Back in Lordstown, local United Auto Workers (UAW) president David Green told the Detroit Free Press American workers who have been left behind since GM’s plant closure are struggling to grapple with the situation and the future of their livelihood in the community.

“There’s a lot of stress right now and struggling to comprehend the vagueness of our situation,” Green said. He said workers in the area want to know whether or not another company will reopening the the manufacturing plant.


EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul
Hegseth hints major defense spending increase, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narcoterrorism operations
Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes
Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run
Photos: Incredibly Creepy New Epstein Island Photos Released – Chilling Masks, Eerie Dentist Chair, Weird Writing on Chalkboard
Fact Check: Do Somalis Contribute More to Minnesota’s Bottom Line Than They Take?
Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows
Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult
Unhinged Maxine Waters’ Latest Preposterous Allegation: Trump Is a ‘Killer’
Biden, Man Dems Said Could Serve Four More Years as President, Cannot Pronounce Name of His Own Country
Fact Check: No, Trump Did Not Call for the Deaths of Democrat Senators Who Urged Military to Disobey Orders – Here’s the Proof
Murdaugh family housekeeper says white truck ‘haunts’ her from night of murders years after
Hegseth to highlight rebuilding the ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ in speech at Reagan National Defense Forum
Afghan watchdog: US taxpayer-funded weapons left behind have formed ‘core of the Taliban security apparatus’
Could This Be the End? Trump Moves to End Birthright Citizenship for Good, SCOTUS Agrees to Hear the Case
See also  Virginia GOP chairman stepping down after drastic losses in November elections

This month, GM said it was looking to sell the Lordstown plant to the electric vehicle company Workhorse Group Inc. Those plans, though, remain tentative.

Experts have called on Trump to implement a 25 percent auto tariff to protect American auto worker jobs and the U.S. auto industry from Chinese domination. Likewise, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), vying for the Democrat nomination for president, has told Trump to immediately ban GM from receiving federal contracts due to their outsourcing, offshoring, and mass layoff scheme.

GM is also looking to manufacture an electric Cadillac in China and continue manufacturing its Envision compact vehicle in China. The made-in-Mexico Chevrolet Blazer will soon arrive in U.S. markets. Last year, GM became the largest automaker in Mexico, as it has cut jobs in America and increased production in Mexico.

American manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy,as every one manufacturing job supports an additional 7.4 American jobs in other industries. Decades of free trade, with deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have eliminated nearly five million manufacturing jobs from the American economy and resulted in the closure of about 50,000 manufacturing plants.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter