Massena GM shop will close May 1

MASSENA — The General Motors Powertrain plant will close May 1, company officials announced Thursday.

The plant has 37 workers after more than 100 were laid off Jan. 23, three days before they were supposed to return from what they expected to be short-term layoffs.

"Wish it was better news. It's doom and gloom everywhere," said Robert P. Cunningham, United Auto Workers Local 465 shop chairman.

"Everyone that's left has not signed up for the special attrition program, so they're waiting for transfers. It's a wait and see. We're hoping domestic auto sales turn around and we get back up to higher volumes," he said.

Workers in May had to choose between transferring to another GM plant, retiring or taking a buyout through the special attrition program when the plant closed.

GM officials said they are not sure what will happen to the plant after it goes idle.

"Now that we have a firm date, a lot of discussions have to take place," corporate spokeswoman Lynda A. Messina said. "I don't have that information yet."

General Motors announced in 2007 that the plant would be closing at the end of last year. When gas prices spiked, the company extended the closing date to mid-year 2009, because parts used in the smaller, more efficient four-cylinder engine were made here.

But when the domestic auto market plunged late last year, plant employees were placed on temporary layoff during Thanksgiving and again from Christmas until the end of January.

Though the closing date was extended once, it is unlikely that it will happen again, Ms. Messina said.

"It's a small crew, but we think we have enough work to keep them working until May 1," she said. "I don't believe that date will change."

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, and state Sen. Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, have pledged to support laid-off workers.

Mr. Griffo said their offices can help unemployed workers with benefit questions and with finding retraining opportunities.

Mrs. Russell's Watertown office can be reached by calling 786-0284. The phone number for Mr. Griffo's Massena office is 769-7932.