A month after the last Chevy Cruze rolled off the line at GM’s Lordstown plant, some laid off workers are moving away and businesses in the Mahoning Valley are feeling the effects.
At Cockeye’s Barbeque in Warren on Saturday, a small crowd gathered to bid farewell to yet another GM employee who is transferring to a facility in Missouri. Stacey Hoover says many of the GM employees have become regulars in the four years since she opened the restaurant.
She says the layoffs will have a trickle-down effect in the region.
“Losing all the folks at Lordstown, that’s a real thing for us. We’ve kind of become part of their routine. Will it impact the business? Yeah, maybe. But at the end of the day, will it impact us, personally? Yeah," she said.
“Honest to Gosh, you get a little emotional because it is the last time you’re going to see them," she continued. "But, I can’t tell you how many have come back. They went to Kentucky, they went to Missouri, they went to all these different places. And when they come back to town to see family, they come to see me.”
Since the last Chevy Cruze rolled off the Lordstown assembly line in March, a number of local leaders, legislators and others have asked GM to reconsider its decision.
