Tuesday morning, union leaders from the UAW Local 1853 expect to find out exactly what may be coming to the GM plant in Spring Hill. There’s still no certainty about what was agreed to over the weekend in contract negotiations.
The assembly plant has been idled since late 2009 when production of the Chevy Traverse went north to Michigan. But the line had just been retooled, and UAW Local 1853 chairman Mike Herron says it’s versatile and state-of-the-art.
“It could literally build anything the corporation needed and that the marketplace demanded. At the present time, we don’t know what the specific product is or the timeline for the jobs returning to Spring Hill.”
Herron says there are roughly 500 laid off employees in the Spring Hill area waiting for work. Hundreds more took transfers to other GM plants. Herron says most of them say they’d jump at the chance to return to Tennessee.
“Their homes are here. Their families are here. They never wanted to leave Tennessee. They never wanted to leave the south. And they had to just to keep a meal on the table so they did what they needed to do to make ends meet.”
Herron says it’s unclear how many jobs may be coming back to the plant and when, but he says the mood is better than it’s been at any time over the last two years.
Since 2009, an engine production line has remained in operation at the plant and currently employs 1,100 workers.
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