A Final Farewell for GM Oklahoma Plant

Some workers brought cameras to General Motors Corp.’s Oklahoma City plant to take photographs of their workstations and co-workers before the last vehicle rolled off the line Monday.

Others just brought their sadness.

“It’s a rough day,” said GM spokeswoman Nancy Sarpolis in Detroit. “It’s hard to see your co-workers go.”

After 27 years, the last vehicle produced at the plant, a white Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT, rolled out Monday evening as GM shut down production in the first of 12 facilities the company plans to close by 2008 as it struggles to match its production with demand for its vehicles.

Detroit-based GM plans to cut 30,000 jobs. The Oklahoma City plant employs 2,400 -- 2,200 hourly and 200 salaried -- but economists said as many as 7,500 jobs could be affected, including those at GM suppliers and secondary jobs such as hotel and restaurant workers.

“It’s obviously a sad day for the state of Oklahoma,” said Mike Seney, senior vice president of the State Chamber, a business group.

Gov. Brad Henry said the state would offer displaced employees and their families job-search assistance, retraining and education.

Some plant employees are considering retirement, while others plan to enroll in GM’s job bank, which allows workers to collect full pay and benefits as they attend classes or volunteer at community agencies, Sarpolis said.

Some workers will continue to be paid through September 2007, when GM’s contract with the United Auto Workers union expires.