Staff Reports
An unverified report from Rep. Louise Slaughter’s office contends that laid off workers at GM Powertrain’s Tonawanda facility could soon be heading back to work, but the company hasn’t confimed the announcement.
The recent end of the big block V8 engine left the Tonawanda plant with 162 employees on indefinite volume-related layoff, bringing the total number of laid off workers to approximately 375.
Slaughter’s press release, issued Thursday afternoon, touts an investment that “would invest hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the facility to produce the next generation engine used in Chevrolet and Pontiac models.” The representative goes on to say that the investment will be for assembly of a four-cylinder Ecotec engine.
A four-cylinder engine found in the Chevrolet Cobalt and Malibu is now the plant’s main product, and the facility also produces a five-cylinder engine. But Slaughter’s statement includes no exact figures and messages left with Slaughter’s communications director went unanswered.
Calls to Nina Price, the Powertrain Plant’s communications director, and several national GM contacts also met with no success. The company’s Web site also makes no mention of any new investment in Tonawanda.
Union offices were closed as well, but the United Autoworkers Local 774, which represents the plant, is hosting a meeting today at 12:30 p.m. for laid off workers according to the union’s Web site and Facebook page.
