LORDSTOWN, Ohio – General Motors Co. will commence layoffs of more than 1,300 workers at Ultium Cells LLC’s manufacturing plant here, according to a plan previously announced by the automaker.
Effective today, 850 members of United Auto Workers Local 1112 will be placed on temporary layoff with no specific return date, while another 448 hourly members face indefinite layoff with no callback plans, GM said in October.
According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, letter filed that month, a total of 1,334 UAW 1112 members would be placed on layoff.
According to the notice, 1,090 battery assembly operators in Ultium’s cell production will be placed on layoff. Another 142 in the materials department and 102 in the quality division will lose their jobs.
Ultium Cells is a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution. The company manufactures battery cells that are used in several of the automaker’s EV models. Those affected employees are covered under the UAW’s national collective bargaining agreement with GM.
In a letter to shareholders in October, Mary Barra, GM chairwoman and CEO, said the automaker was “assessing our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint” because of an expected slowdown in EV sales. The company took a $1.6 billion charge during the third quarter because of anticipated losses in the EV market.
Barra said a less stringent regulatory environment related to fuel efficiency standards under the Trump administration – as well as the expiration of the $7,500 EV tax credit program – influenced the decision.