Browse > Home / News / Goodbye Saturn, Workers Say End is Bitter, not Sweet

Goodbye Saturn, Workers Say End is Bitter, not Sweet

November 4, 2009

Tennessee is preparing for the official shutdown of the General Motors assembly plant in Spring Hill this month. Saturn will close their doors for good by the end of November. Governor BRedesen told the media the state is bracing for an increase in unemployment. For years, the company has employed residents from Maury, Williamson, Davidson and Rutherford Counties.

You may recall, the state tried to convince General Motors to stay in Spring Hill with the proposal of tax-cutting incentives, but GM decided to build a new model car in Michigan instead. Auto assembly ending at Spring Hill will leave about 2,000 employees unemployed. A total of 500 workers will stay and utilize a small portion of the massive complex for projects unrelated to Saturn. On a side note, GM has allocated funding to build Saturn vehicles up until 2013.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • bodytext
  • del.icio.us
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Live
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Technorati
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • NewsVine
  • Furl
  • Sphinn
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Written by Michael Lansing · Filed Under News 

Comments

One Response to “Goodbye Saturn, Workers Say End is Bitter, not Sweet”

  1. Morgan Johnson on November 9th, 2009 10:01 pm

    I wish all GM workers in Sprinhill the best in whatever comes your way. I feel a close bond with the UAW/GM workers at Springhill for several reasons. I owned several cars that came from Saturn. My mother and father both came from Obion Tenn. and that and the fact that Saturns were good cars made me a Saturn car fan. I also feel a bond in the sense that I had the opportunity to work with many of the UAW officials from Springhill over the years and I would say that they are first rate. I have always admired how the GM Saturn employees paved the way for many of the inovations that GM uses at all their plants. Another bond that I have is that I know from first hand observation what it does when we have elected Senators from states such as La. Senator David Vitter and Senator Corker from Tenn. give companies such as GM such a hard time and give the new adminstration grief on almost every issue. Whether we like the new President or not is not the issue but the issue is we have new powers in Washington and the new powers and corporate GM will only take so much of being harrassed. That makes it easy when the cutting comes. I am convinced that is the main reason that we are going to lose our giant assembly plant in La. and Tenn. will lose the massive GM plant in Springhill. I have often stated during my term as UAW 2166 President for the autoworkers at GM Shreveport that we don’t need one giant GM plant in La., We need at least 10 plants which would result in productive Americans paying taxes which would enhance the economy. I would also wish the same for other states in our great country. I say that the UAW/GM workers that I have had the privilege to know during my working time at GM are the best of the best. I extend my best wishes to everyone at GM Springhill as You are proud Tenn. autoworkers! You will overcome and do well on whatever trail you happen to go down!

    Morgan Johnson
    Benton La.

Got something to say?