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Graham Touts GM Lordstown as Example for Valley
"By Dan O'BrienGIRARD, Ohio -- Work together and good things will happen.That's the message Jim Graham, president of Local 1112 United Auto Workers, delivered Monday at the annual meeting of the general policy board of Eastgate Regional Council of Governments at the Holiday Inn Metroplex. Eastgate is a quasi-public agency devoted to planning regional infrastructure, transportation (including mass transit) and economic development. At the meeting, Eastgate Executive Director John Getchey reported 64 projects with a projected aggregate cost of $17.6 million were submitted for various infrastructure improvements in the region. "Unfortunately we only have about $7.7 million to give out," he said.That means the board's committees must review and rank the importance of each project and direct the funds appropriately, Getchey added.The UAW's Graham, a high-profile advocate for the General Motors Lordstown manufacturing complex and the Mahoning Valley, said the Lordstown plant should serve as a model of how diverse groups can cooperate and achieve common goals. "Lordstown should be an example to the rest of this community," Graham stated.The Lordstown plant produces the Chevrolet Cobalt, GM's new premium small car, that hit showrooms in November. Until last October, the plant produced Chevrolet Cavaliers, since discontinued.During its first month of production, the Cobalt doubled sales projections, he said."We've got the highest production volume plant in the country," Graham said. Although Graham remained tight-lipped when asked about GM awarding an additional vehicle to the plant for production, he said there are a number of options but declined specifics."We'll take anything General Motors wants to give us."He saidproduction of the Cobalt stands at 50 or so vehicle per hour; theplant's goal is 62 per hour. "They're very quality conscious about thiscar," Graham said, "because they know it's our survival and thesurvival of our Valley. We have to put out the best car we can put out."During the early 1970s, Graham related, being identified with the Lordstown facility and its workers was not flattering, especially to the top brass at GM. That reputation only made it more difficult to persuade Detroit to invest in not only a new product for the plant, but in the region's future."We had our problems," Graham said. "Unfortunately, a lot of people in Detroit read about those problems and when they came down here for the new car, they came down here with the attitude that Lordstown and the UAW were the same organizations they were in the 1970s. We had a very hard time convincing these people that we had changed."Moreover, the plant was an afterthought to many people living in the Mahoning Valley, a region long dominated by the steel industry, since considerably smaller. "We had a hard time breaking out of that image, but we did," Graham said. "Our membership sucked it up, management sucked it up."Thus, a broad coalition involving labor, management, business and government secured a new product for the plant. "Without that help, I don't think we could've secured the car," Graham said.The plant, the president of the UAW local emphasized, is an important component in the Mahoning Valley economy. "We produced 230,000 cars last year," he reported. To date, the plant has manufactured over 13 million vehicles since it began production in 1966. More than 20 miles of conveyor lines stream throughout the plant while the facility contributes more than $700 million a year to the local economy, he stressed. The challenges the plant faced are not unlike the many challenges facing the community, Graham added. "These are issues where if we work together, we can resolve [them], just like we did at Lordstown," he said.Eastgate is supporting numerous development efforts and initiatives, such as the Save Our Airbase Reservists campaign, or SOAR, Getchey said. Like the GM "Bring It Home" initiative of a few years ago, the SOAR campaign involves a wide spectrum of the community in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.Among the other projects and programs Eastgate has been asked to support this year: A feasibility study and fund-raising effort for the Mahoning River dredging project, expected to cost $100 million over a 10-year period.Construction of the Walton Avenue Bridge in Struthers, which will open up access to undeveloped former steel mill property along the Mahoning River.A back-up water line for the GM Lordstown facility.U.S. Economic Development Agency funding for a proposed indoor racetrack in Trumbull County, and various projects in the city of Ashtabula, Conneaut and Kinsman.Environmental planning initiatives, including protection of various streams and rivers.Sponsorship of the proposed Hubbard Arterial, connecting Youngstown's east side with Hubbard. A draft of the environmental study is expected to be finished in the spring.Approval of the transportation improvement program, a four-year listing of highway funds to be spent in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.The Specialized Transportation Grant program, which helps fund agencies that provide transportation services for the elderly and disabled.Corridor studies of U.S. routes 422 and 224.Eastgate's board is composed of state and local government officials as well as private citizens in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Struthers Mayor Dan Mamula was elected chairman for 2005. Contact Dan O'Brien at [email protected]"