General Motors will add 250 jobs at its Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky. That could prove good news for laid-off GM workers at the plant in Spring Hill.
Workers at the Spring Hill factory have been waiting for a new car to build for the last two years. But before GM reopens there it wants to fill its existing plants to capacity, says Mike O’Rourke, president of the United Autoworkers local 1853.
He says that means any time another plant gets closer to full, Spring Hill is a little closer to being back in business. O’Rourke says about 500 people who were laid off there are still hoping to be hired back.
“That’s just the way it is – they raise their kids here, still have kids in school, and they wanna work in Spring Hill, so we’re trying to get them temporary spots throughout the country… We’ve got some status that gets them to the top of the list if they want to go to another assembly plant that might be adding people.”
O’Rourke says that gives those laid-off workers some priority among applicants for the 250 new slots building Corvettes in Kentucky. An official at the plant in Bowling Green says they have about 40 laid-off workers also expecting preference for hiring.
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