DURING A PERSONAL CALL, SCHUMER PUSHES GENERAL MOTORS CEO BARRA TO AWARD NEW MANUFACTURING WORK TO THE ROCHESTER GM COMPONENTS GROUP – ON THE HEELS OF ANNOUNCEMENT THAT GM WILL USE A DIFFERENT SUPPLIER AFTER 2021 FOR MANUFACTURING WORK CURRENTLY IN ROCHESTER
GM’s Fuel Rail And Fuel Injector Production Lines, Which Are Both Located At The Company’s Rochester Plant, Account For 600 Local Jobs And 65% Of The Manufacturing Work Completed In Rochester
After GM Announced That They Would Be Moving These Critical Manufacturing Lines, Schumer Called On GM CEO Mary Barra To Provide Assurances That Any Work Stripped From Rochester Would Be Replaced
Schumer To GM: We Supported GM In Their Time Of Need And Rochester’s Productive Workers Helped Resurrect The Company – This Should Be Recognized And Rewarded With New Production Responsibility And Job Security
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, responding to the troubling news that General Motors (GM) will be moving manufacturing work currently done at the Rochester GM Components Holding Group plant to a different supplier, personally called GM CEO Mary Barra recently, urging her to provide assurances that when this shift occurs additional production lines and new work will be moved to Rochester. Schumer expressed his displeasure with GM’s recently-announced decision that it will move its fuel rail and fuel injector production lines, which support 600 local jobs and account for about 65% of the manufacturing work now done in Rochester, to a different supplier after 2021. Schumer said the world-class and productive workforce at Rochester’s GM plant is second to none, and that GM must take steps now and not waste any time in planning to add new manufacturing work at the Rochester plant by 2021.
“After hearing the disturbing news of GM’s plans to relocate significant production at the Rochester plant, I called GM CEO Barra to strongly convey that the GM employees at the Rochester plant are hard-working, productive and second to none; they play a fundamental role in the regional economy and played a key role in the resurrection of GM and this effort deserves to be rewarded with new work and job security,” said Senator Schumer. “During my call with GM, my message was simple: you must replace any production work stripped from the Rochester plant, and cannot allow these jobs to fall by the wayside. We in Congress stood by GM in its time of need, and these employees made significant sacrifices to keep GM financially viable during their bankruptcy period, and I’ll keep fighting to protect their jobs for the long-term.”
Schumer explained that GM’s over 1100 Rochester employees have demonstrated a positive track record of producing top quality components. Moreover, Schumer said, these workers have helped drive GM’s profitability and have been a vital contributor in pulling the automaker out of financial straits following GM’s 2009 bankruptcy.
Schumer, who championed both the federal government’s rescue of the American auto industry and GM’s acquisition of the then-Delphi owned Rochester plant to save it from otherwise closing in 2009, said GM owes it to these Rochester workers to award them new job-sustaining production lines in light of the announcement they are moving existing manufacturing lines from Rochester. During GM’s bankruptcy period, these first-rate workers agreed to pay concessions and sacrificed greatly to improve cost-savings and efficiencies at the Rochester plant in return for the safeguarding of their jobs, and Schumer said that GM turning its back on this commitment would be unacceptable. Similarly, Schumer explained that GM has a responsibility to the American taxpayer to support American jobs like those at the Rochester plant, as the primary reason for the federal government’s unprecedented efforts to protect the auto industry from collapse was the preservation of American jobs.
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