AUTOS : GM to Open New Factory in San Fernando Valley to Make Automobile Seat Covers
Calling its closed Van Nuys plant a “special case,” General Motors Corp. said Tuesday that it will open a new factory in the San Fernando Valley area to manufacture seat covers, creating jobs for more than 200 laid-off auto workers.
Officials said GM will not reopen the Van Nuys plant but is looking at possible sites “in the Van Nuys area” for the seat cover operation. Ray Knudson, a trustee of United Auto Workers union Local 645, which represents workers laid off from the assembly plant, said the new GM facility will be in operation by June.
According to Knudson, UAW officials have been told that the plant will eventually employ as many as 600 people, with the jobs to be filled on the basis of seniority.
However, Karen Longridge, spokeswoman for the GM division that will manufacture the seat covers, said immediate plans call for the hiring of 200 laid-off workers and a yet-undetermined number of support personnel.
“The jobs are permanent. They’ll be making seat covers for full-size Chevrolet and GM pickup trucks,” said Longridge, of GM’s Inland Fisher Guide Division.
When the Van Nuys plant closed in August, 1992, about 2,600 workers lost their jobs. About 1,400 remain on laid-off status, according to Peter Ternef, a GM spokesman in Detroit. UAW officials say another 300 have accepted jobs at other GM parts plants in 10 states.
Some Local 645 members said it will require a minimum of 25 years of seniority to land one of the prized jobs. Most workers with 30 or more years of seniority are expected to accept one of the retirement incentives available under terms of the recently ratified three-year national agreement between the UAW and GM.
“I will certainly apply for one of the jobs,” said Joe Vasquez, a Palmdale resident who worked 26 years at the Van Nuys plant. “GM has been good to me, and I want to finish the rest of my working life with them. I’m 45 and too young to qualify for any of the retirement programs. I can’t wait to go back to work.”
Under terms of a new GM-UAW contract, the laid-off Van Nuys workers will continue to draw pay and health benefits until Sept. 14, 1996. Laid-off workers are paid about $18.50 an hour; those called back to work will earn the same amount in the new jobs.
GM and UAW representatives will meet with workers Saturday to describe the new jobs and other benefits in the new labor contract.
Also Tuesday, a GM official acknowledged publicly for the first time that GM had pledged to keep the Van Nuys plant open. The factory was closed when GM transferred production of Chevrolet Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds to a plant in Canada.
Gerald Knechtel, GM vice president of industrial relations, told reporters in New York that GM had an “honest plan” to build another model at the Van Nuys facility but was forced to shut it down for economic reasons. He called the plant’s closure “a particularly emotional issue” for the auto maker, which operated the plant for 45 years, building 6.3 million vehicles.
“It’s a special case, and we’re addressing it in a special way,” Knechtel said. “We’ve developed a special program for Van Nuys.”
Times staff writer Donald W. Nauss in Detroit contributed to this story.
