Janesville General Motors Plant Won't Reopen Under Proposed Contract

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

The Janesville, Wisconsin, General Motors assembly plant that was shuttered six years ago will likely officially close, according to letters in a proposed agreement between United Auto Workers and the automaker, Automotive News reported.

The plant, which was opened in 1919 and once produced large SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL, employed as many as 7,000 workers in the 1970s. Hundreds of workers were sent to other plants when the plant suspended operation in 2009, six months before GM’s announced bankruptcy.

The town of 64,000 people, which is the hometown for now-Speaker of the U.S. House Paul Ryan, hasn’t announced what it would do with the 4.8 million-square-foot facility that GM still owns. Remediating the site may prove difficult with the tools and site’s history.

“As you can imagine, people have been better stewards in more recent time than in the distant past,” Gale Price, Janesville Economic Development Director, told a local NBC station.

Residents have suggested the site be converted to low-income housing, a homeless shelter or a fair or expo center.

This year, GM announced a $1.4 billion investment in its Arlington, Texas, plant which produces many of the same vehicles that Janesville once produced.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 26 comments
  • Indi500fan Indi500fan on Oct 30, 2015

    I'm surprised they haven't sold off the newish "smoker's lounge" out front.

  • Shawnski Shawnski on Oct 31, 2015

    When I graduated HS in '84 from Sheboygan WI, I was an outcast among my peers for liking Ford. GM über alas! It has changed since then of course and although I believe Chevrolet remains the no.1 brand there, it's not so GM centric as it once was. I don't really feel vindicated, though owning a Ford is no longer necessarily a social stigma. Going between my home in WI and a second home and business in FL is a marked contrast. Imports are more popular with cheap Kia's and higher end German cars. Trucks are popular in both regions, however pickups are de facto in WI particularily GM, Ford and FCA.

  • Mikehgl Mikehgl on Oct 31, 2015

    I grew up in a GM based town also (Saginaw) and was raised with GM brands surrounding me. Most, but not all, of the plants there have closed, including Malleable steel, Chevy parts plant, parts of Saginaw Steering gear and Nodular Foundry. GM never was a company that invested in their communities and Saginaw was no exception. I know live near Midland, MI , home of Dow Chemical, and the difference is quite contrasting. Dow is very supportive of its home town and it has vastly improved the quality of life in the Midland area. Even though GM was not a good example of a steward to the community, it did provide thousands with very good paying jobs for decades. Saginaw was a thriving town in my youth during the heyday of GM. Sadly, it is now just a shell of what it once was. I do think that GM should be held responsible for any environmental remediating that needs to be performed at any of its closed plants.

  • Carilloskis Carilloskis on Nov 02, 2015

    My parents first Chevy suburban (a 95) was built at this plant and was extremely well built and reliable the next two a 99 and 05 where built in Mexico and where nothing but problems.

Next