The outlook has improved dramatically for local auto plants as General Motors and Ford shift their focus to electric vehicles.
Production workers at the Route 5 plant voted 288 to 82 in favor of the deal, while skilled trades workers voted 183 to 45 in favor, according to a vote tracker by Automotive News.
The latest piece – and one of the most important – came into focus this month when GM pledged to invest $300 million in its Town of Tonawanda engine plant to make drive units for electric vehicles.
It was the final piece in a series of investment plans outlined in tentative deals with the United Auto Workers that provide a strong indication that the local plants – and their 3,500 hourly and salaried workers – won’t be left behind because of the shift to electric vehicles.
GM affirmed a previous commitment to invest $154 million in the Lockport components plant, while Ford pledged to invest $80 million in its stamped parts plant in Hamburg.
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General Motors has pledged to invest $300 million in its Tonawanda plant.
Those pledges are no small matter, given the three plants’ significance to the region’s manufacturing sector.
As part of a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers, Ford Motor Co. is pledging to invest $80 million into its stamping plant in Hamburg to help enhance the plant's viability, ensuring new production as older products are gradually phased out.
“It means that Western New York is going to be part of the EV transition, and we’re going to be part of that transition with good-paying jobs,” said Raymond Jensen, assistant director of Amherst-based UAW Region 9.
UAW members still to have to ratify the deals in order for the agreements to take effect. Voting is underway among UAW members at Ford. Members of UAW Local 897 at the Hamburg stamping plant voted strongly in favor of the tentative deal. UAW members at GM’s two area plants are scheduled to cast their ballots next week.
While the local auto industry plants have been manufacturing mainstays for decades, their future still hinges on securing new production as older work is phased out.
Now, there is a new twist to that mandate: securing work tied to electric vehicles as automakers shift attention and investment away from vehicles powered by internal combustion engines to meet climate-change goals.
Nallan Suresh, a University at Buffalo distinguished professor of operations management and strategy, and a manufacturing expert, called the automakers’ pledged investments a “turning point in the Western New York auto industry.”
“It gives a strong signal that the UAW will be a partner in the long run,” Suresh said.
Here is how the agreements position each of the three area plants for the future:
Ford stamping plant
The stamping plant’s outlook was in peril as negotiations got underway, Jensen said.
“The Ford Buffalo stamping plant was on the chopping block,” he said. “(Ford) wanted to close that facility. Through (UAW president) Shawn Fain and his team’s strategy, they were able to not only keep it open, but get an $80 million investment for the future products going in there, whether it’s EV stamping or regular stamping.”
Ford has pledged to invest $80 million in its Hamburg stamping plant.
A Ford spokesman did not answer a question about whether the plant was at risk of being closed, instead highlighting the investments and job commitments Ford made to its facilities.
Unlike many stamping plants, which are adjacent to assembly plants, the Hamburg plant is a standalone operation. As a result, its parts have to be shipped greater distances to support vehicle assembly, which adds to costs. The plant, which opened in 1950, has a total workforce of 843 employees, including 749 hourly workers.
Ford’s $80 million pledged investment at the site calls for stampings for the Edge and Nautilus to continue through their planned product life cycles, and stampings for the Super Duty, Expedition, Navigator, E-Series and medium truck to continue. Ford said stampings for new electric vehicles would be added to the lineup.
The Hamburg plant ships parts to Ford plants around the country, but its top recipient is Ford’s assembly plant, about 85 miles away in Oakville, Ontario. The Oakville facility is ticketed for a $1.3 billion overhaul to turn the complex into an electric vehicle manufacturing hub.
GM Tonawanda
GM’s Town of Tonawanda engine plant, which has nearly 1,100 hourly and salaried workers, faced concerns about its own outlook.
The complex has produced tens of millions of internal combustion engines since opening 85 years ago. But two years ago, GM stated its intent to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035, which led to a natural question: what about the Tonawanda plant?
During negotiations, there was no talk of the Tonawanda plant being at risk of closing, Jensen said.
As the United Auto Workers' strike against the Detroit Three automakers enters its second month, local autoworkers are waiting to see if they will be directed to walk out.
“It was just about securing future work, so when the current product allocation runs out, that those members wouldn’t be left behind,” he said.
GM’s pledge to invest $300 million for drive unit production for electric vehicles gives the complex something it has lacked – a clear connection to GM’s all-electric future.
“It’s fantastic news,” Jensen said. “We’re not sure of how many jobs it’s going to create. We’re not going to know that for a while, obviously.”
The UAW’s local leadership at the Tonawanda plant has been working since June on trying to secure new production for the site, he said.
Suresh said, for a time, the Tonawanda plant will have the “dual advantage” of making internal combustion engines, while ramping up production to serve the EV market, as well.
“It’s going to be a very smooth transition, I think,” he said.
Suresh
GM Lockport
General Motors has laid off 48 workers at its Lockport components plant, as the effects of the United Auto Workers strike against the Detroit Three automakers hit the Buffalo Niagara region for the first time.
GM didn’t commit to any additional investment in the Lockport plant as part of its tentative deal. Instead, GM affirmed its pledge to pour $154 million into the site, including for production of stator modules for electric motors.
That investment was announced in early 2022, providing a welcome source of new work for a site with about 1,600 hourly and salaried workers.
General Motors affirmed a $154 million investment in its Lockport plant.
The Upper Mountain Road complex makes a variety of components and systems, including radiators, condensers, oil coolers and HVAC modules. The stator modules represent a step into EV-specific production.
“I think (GM) Lockport’s in a great position,” Jensen said. “They have a great workforce out there. They have lots of square footage to put new products.”
‘A great omen’
Peter Ahrens, executive director of the Buffalo Niagara Manufacturing Alliance, called the automakers’ pledged investments “a great omen for the future,” given the industry’s emphasis on electrification.
“Having that commitment today will set us up great over the next 25 to 50 years in Western New York for manufacturing in the auto sector,” he said.
Those investments will provide a boost to local vendors that supply those plants, and the pay raises in the contracts will increase employees’ spending power, Ahrens said.
“I think it’s going to be a win for families achieving the dream of having a path to the middle class, owning a house, having a car, sending your kids to school,” he said. And those higher wages will sustain the real estate market and support future residential development, Ahrens said.
While the tentative deals reinforce the commitment by GM and Ford to electrify their fleets for the long term, auto executives in the short term are worrying about slackening demand for EVs. GM, Ford and Tesla in recent weeks have all indicated they will pause their spending on EV-related projects as a result.
Suresh said he feels the Buffalo Niagara region should try to attract other EV component makers, instead of relying solely on GM and Ford for this type of manufacturing.
He pointed to assets such as the region’s strategic cross-border location, and the joint effort by Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse to win federal funding for a “tech hub.”
“We can leverage that to bring a lot more EV players, component makers to this area,” he said.
Matt Glynn
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November 10, 2023 at 06:00PM
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