The announcement that General Motors will stop production at its Lordstown plant has caused anxiety for more than just its workers. Their children are concerned, too.
“My daughter’s a senior at the high school and when the announcement was made… she was in her physics lab and every other kid that’s in her group has a parent that either works at GM or one of the suppliers and will effectively be out of work in March," said David Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. "Obviously, she said it was very alarming and everyone was anxious and nervous and has anxiety over this.”
About 5,000 students from Mahoning and Trumbull counties wrote letters and drew pictures asking GM CEO Mary Barra to reconsider the decision.
The artwork was displayed Monday at the United Auto Workers Union Hall as part of the Drive It Home Ohio Campaign, a grassroots effort to keep auto jobs in Ohio.
“My father has been working there for longer than I have been alive,” reads one letter from Antonio Gonzales, which was provided by the campaign. “I feel my dad has worked too hard in his life to have something big like this happen, again.”
Green says he’s been touched by the students’ creations and hopes it will have the same impact on Barra.
“The letters say, you know, ‘My daddy works there, and we’ve already had to move two times, and mom and dad got divorced the first time, now I have a new mommy,' and things like that," he said. "It’s just so kind of gut-wrenching, you know, that these people and these kids are gonna have to continue to go through this."
Green also says the goal of the campaign is to gather letters and signs from across the state.
