LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Effective Jan. 5, 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 at Ultium Cells LLC’s plant here, a local union president said Wednesday.
“Today, we received some devastating news that weighs heavily in our hearts and our community,” George Goranitis said in a statement. “This is an incredibly challenging time for our local union and our membership, especially given the painful history of our former assembly plant shutting its doors.”
On Wednesday, General Motors Co. informed officials that a total of 1,334 employees at Ultium would be placed on layoff.
“This layoff is the result of production schedule adjustments needed to align with slower than expected near-term EV adoption,” according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, letter written to elected officials by Mark Pervine, vice president of GM components sector. “During this time, Ultium Cells plans to make upgrades to the facility to provide greater flexibility.”
The letter was addressed to Lordstown Mayor Jackie Woodward; Breeyn Tarr, Rapid Response & WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker Program administrator for the Office of Workforce Development for the state of Ohio; and Rick Hernandez, president of the Board of Trumbull County Commissioners.
Affected employees are expected to be placed on layoff beginning Jan. 5, 2026, the notification reads. The total number of employees to be affected by this layoff is 1,334.
“The layoff will be temporary for approximately 850 of those employees. The remaining employees will be placed on indefinite layoff in accordance with the national and local collective bargaining agreements,” the letter says.
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.
Impacted employees are afforded transfer rights and recall rights in accordance with the national and local labor agreements, the letter adds. All employees affected by the layoffs are eligible to receive state unemployment benefits and/or supplemental unemployment benefits, the letter notes.
Goranitis said that the union is “actively engaging in discussions with the company to explore opportunities for bringing new products into our facility, which is essential for securing our jobs and ensuring a stable future for our workforce.”
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.
Goranitis said the layoffs are a direct result of a shift in EV demand and sales and the end of a $7,500 federal tax credit that applied to select EV models made in the United States. That tax credit expired Sept. 30 as part of a reconciled spending bill that Congress passed earlier this year.
“I want to assure our members that we are committed to providing the support and resources they need during this difficult period,” Goranitis said.
According to earlier reports, GM also plans to place 700 on temporary layoff at its Ultium plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., and lay off another 1,200 workers at Factory Zero, the automaker’s EV manufacturing facility in Detroit.
In a letter to shareholders last week, 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.
In her letter, Barra said that 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.
Barra added that electric vehicles remain the company’s “North Star” and vowed to continue investment in the technology. “We will continue to invest in new battery chemistries, form factors, and architectural improvements to drive profitability,” she said in her letter.
Construction on the $2.3 billion Ultium plant was completed in 2022, as GM prepared to ramp up EV production. In 2019, the automaker closed its Lordstown Assembly plant, eliminating approximately 1,500 jobs.