GM May Sell Plant Earmarked for Closure
December 21, 2007

By Bill Visnic

PITTSBURGH – General Motors Corp. is working on a deal that may net a few bucks from a manufacturing facility that was slated to be shuttered by the end of they year.

The company’s Pittsburgh metal-stamping plant in West Mifflin, PA, is not exactly on the inner ring of GM’s manufacturing universe, and GM announced in November 2005 it intended to close the facility by the end of this year. The plant was opened in 1951.

Now, the plant may be pulled back from the brink – and continue to produce for GM.

“GM and the UAW (United Auto Workers union) are in discussions with an interested party for the Pittsburgh stamping plant,” confirms GM spokesman Dan Flores.

“There’s been a lot of speculation the plant has already been sold,” he adds, but says neither GM or the UAW is ready to announce any deal.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports an investor group called Pittsburgh Stamping is in negotiation with GM and the UAW to buy the plant and continue as a supplier to GM. It is not apparent whether the group also intends to pursue business other than with GM. The Post-Gazette says the group has secured $4.4 million worth of state loans, tax credits and grants to assist in the purchase.

A deal could save hundreds of jobs for UAW local 544. GM lists the site as employing 288 UAW employees and 46 salaried, non-represented personnel. Prior to buyouts initiated last year, the plant employed approximately 600 workers.

Flores tells Auto Observer that although Pittsburgh stamping was to close by year-end, it now will stay open “a little bit into 2008 while these talks are ongoing. If it isn’t sold, it will be closed. The decision to close or sell the facility will be made early next year.”

Meanwhile, the International Union of Electrical Workers Local 798, which represents workers at the GM assembly plant in Moraine, OH (Chevy TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender, Saab 9-7X) says tentative contract negotiations with GM have recessed until January.

Because the IUE represents the 2,600 workers at Moraine, workers there were not included in the sweeping new labor agreement between GM and the UAW in October. GM will discontinue its truck-based midsize SUVs made at Moraine, but it is not known whether the company is planning to commit to a replacement product or products.

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