GM Plant Closure Date Revealed In White Marsh

WHITE MARSH, MD — The last day of work for those at the GM plant in White Marsh will be Saturday, May 4. There will be 296 workers laid off due to the plant closure on that date, GM reported to state labor officials.

The plant in the 10300 block of Philadelphia Road in White Marsh creates transmissions for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra as well as electric drive motors for the Cadillac.

In November 2018, GM announced that the White Marsh plant was one of five it planned to close in North America as it restructures its business.

In all, General Motors will lay off 14,700 factory and white-collar workers in North America and idle five plants to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles, the Associated Press reported.

Several workers at the White Marsh location received pink slips in February so that GM could meet a target before its fourth-quarter earnings report, according to NBC.

Baltimore County has pledged to help impacted workers through the Eastpoint Career Center, and GM has also said it will offer job placement assistance.

After the plant in White Marsh closes, it is unclear what will happen to the property.

Chesapeake Realty Partners, the developer that proposed the Paragon Outlets project, is interested in the site, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

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The Baltimore County executive as well as other elected officials asked GM to reconsider closing its plant in White Marsh.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski said he was "shocked" to learn of the potential closure, in a letter sent in December 2018. He asked the company to consider using the plant for another purpose so the 300 employees there could keep their jobs.

“This facility has been an anchor and source of pride within our County since it opened in 2000," he wrote. "We know that Eastern Baltimore County is one of the most competitive areas for manufacturing on the East Coast with our highly skilled workforce and proximity to transportation networks. I wanted to make sure that the leadership at GM understands the importance and value of this facility to their bottom line and to Baltimore County.”

Here is the full text of the letter from the county executive.

Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen along with Congressmen Elijah Cummings, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes and Jamie Raskin also wrote to GM and requested a meeting with General Motors CEO Mary Teresa Barra to discuss the company’s plans.

“We believe that White Marsh’s highly skilled workforce, modern facility and experience with production lines, from electric motors to transmissions, can and should be repurposed to meet GM’s new business objectives,” they wrote.

Noting that GM received a $50 billion taxpayer bailout after the 2008 financial crisis, the lawmakers stated: "GM has a responsibility not just to its shareholders but to its workforce and the taxpayers who provided the company with so much financial support."

During a December meeting with Barra in Washington, DC, the lawmakers asked GM to return the $115.5 million in aid it received for the White Marsh plant and to help secure a tenant if it followed through with plans to close, according to WBAL.

Tesla founder Elon Musk said that "it's possible that we would be interested — if they were going to sell a plant or not use it, that we would take it over," in an interview on 60 Minutes.

Letter to GM Re White Marsh 11-30-18 Signed by elizabeth on Scribd