Spring Hill Community Reacts To GM Announcement

General Motors’ plans to shutdown production of the Saturn Ion at its Spring Hill plant didn’t shock many in the local community.

Residents, employees, and state officials all say they knew that the Ion was being eliminated from the plant months ago.

What is surprising – and still unknown – is how long and if employees at the Spring Hill plant will be laid off. United Auto Workers Local 18-53 President Mike O’Rourke says GM officials assured him that the plant will eventually make other types of GM cars. He says that transition would require job training, an incentive he hopes the state will offer to the company.

“Well, I just saw what the state did for Nissan. You know, we affect seven counties. Think of the economic impact this plant has on Middle Tennessee; it’s overwhelming. I want to assure this membership has a future. I’ll work with whoever it takes.”

Saturn is Spring Hill’s largest employer, but mayor Dan Leaverette says he’s confident that the town’s booming economy will be able to offset job cuts at the plant. Jenny Sansom, a resident who moved to Spring Hill 14 years ago because of Saturn agreed. However, she says the company needs to cut more at the top.

“I think they have a lot of overhead that they need to get rid of. Starting down at this level may be a beginning but they ought to take care of the people at the top who are getting 24-million dollars for running a business. You know, the people that have spent their lives in these plants, they’re owed. If anybody needs to be cut, I think they need to start at the top – do the trickle down affair.”

One Saturn employee isn’t so sure about GM’s plan to increase its profitability. Ron, a 39-year old worker who didn’t want to use his last name, works in a division of the plant that is already going through cutbacks. He says he’s considering getting out of the automotive industry altogether.

“They can call it streamlining, retooling, whatever, but what usually winds up happening is people end up out of work over it. I don’t think it bodes well for the future of the plant. I’ve been with the company for 15 years, but I’m just planning on finding something else to do.”

Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber reacted to GM’s announcement yesterday.

“We will be working with General Motors on the kind of job training that’s required to assure that the workforce that they have is as productive as they need it to be. So they’ve made it very clear that should new investment come into the Spring Hill facility, they would expect the state to support that with a significant amount of workforce training.”

The automotive industry is a major part of Tennessee’s economy – it represents about one-third of the state’s manufacturing jobs.

Reporters Nina Cardona and Blake Farmer contributed to this report.