Strickland pledges to work with GM task force
Thursday, October 16, 2008
A look at remaining GM jobs in the area. DAYTON — Though Gov. Ted Strickland vowed to meet with General Motors Corp. executives at least four times a year, and though the state offered the automaker $56 million in tax credits, none of it could save GM's Moraine assembly plant, the governor said today, Oct. 16.
Pledging with work with the area "as best we can," Strickland told members of a local task force, "We need transitional steps and transitional efforts to get us from the place where we are to the place where we will arrive."
GM said in June it will close the SUV assembly plant at Stroop Road without giving an exact date. Earlier this month, GM gave that date: Dec. 23. The closing affects 1,100 remaining workers.
Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge — who co-chairs the task force formed last summer to respond to GM's plans — said the date gives local officials little time to respond, though much work has already begun. The county Career Transition Center is making itself available to workers, and the plant itself has established its own transition center.
Dave Hicks, Moraine city manager, said he continues to make the case for the plant in his meetings with GM leaders. Hicks put the cost of the plant closing at $250 million in terms of 2,500 jobs lost — assuming total average wages and benefits of $100,000 per worker — and $675 million for 15,000 "indirect" jobs lost. GM has 103 suppliers in 75 Ohio communities, Hicks and others have said.
Hicks acknowledged that the battle is "uphill," but said: "We still believe there may be an opportunity to change their minds. We know they have changed their minds in the past."
The task force is also asking GM to "release" the 4.4 million-square-foot plant so that redevelopment efforts can begin. Mike Davis, Moraine development director, told Strickland that he and Hicks have studied how Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati, remade its former GM plant into a business park.
Strickland urged listeners not to forget the human impact of the plant's closing.
"I believe that the emotional and psychological impact is something that must be recognized, understood and responded to," he said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
