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John Finley poses for a photo after signing up for UAW strike pay at UAW Local 14 in Toledo, Oct. 11.
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Toledo is a haven for displaced autoworkers. Many want to go home.

THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON

Toledo is a haven for displaced autoworkers. Many want to go home.

Workers who commute from Illinois and eastern Ohio hope a new UAW contract brings relief

Hundreds of workers at Toledo's two largest auto factories are transplants who arrived in the city as their home plants drastically scaled back production and eventually shut down in recent years.

Many of those workers — at both the Jeep plant and General Motors' Propulsion Systems plant — are hoping that their union, the United Auto Workers, might once again secure work for them closer to home as it bargains new four-year contracts with the carmakers.

For the GM transplants, that would mean returning to the Lordstown, Ohio, area, while for the Jeep contingent, it would mean heading home to the Belvidere, Ill., area. As it stands, some of these workers have pulled up stakes and moved their families to Toledo full time, while others rent an apartment locally and commute back and forth to see loved ones on weekends.

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Thursday marks a month since the UAW's last contract expired and ​thousands of workers began striking at targeted facilities across the country, including Jeep's Toledo Assembly Complex. A top priority for the union has been securing union work in as many plants as possible, including new electric vehicle and battery factories that are under construction.

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​Decades ago, UAW workers didn't need to worry about their home plant closing thanks to something called the jobs bank, which kept a paycheck coming until another role could be found nearby.

But that lucrative benefit​ — which had helped prevent plant closures — was eliminated during the financial struggles and restructuring of the Detroit Three during the Great Recession, noted Tony Totty, president of UAW Local 14 in Toledo.

‘Lot of questions’

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John Finley, who works​ at Toledo Propulsion, said he felt butterflies in his stomach Friday when he heard UAW President Shawn Fain say in a bargaining update that GM had agreed to put jobs at its electric vehicle battery plants under the union’s master contract.

For a fleeting moment, he could see a door open to return home to Lordstown to work in GM’s new Ultium Cells battery plant there. It appeared to be a dream come true for him and 250 coworkers at the Lordstown Assembly Plant who had been dispersed to Toledo four years ago after GM closed that facility, which had made the Chevrolet Cruze.

While the GM commitment was acknowledged as a breakthrough for UAW members, Mr. Finley and other Toledo Propulsion workers who commute from the Lordstown area say there remain practical obstacles to them returning home to work at Ultium.

First, the announced breakthrough must survive the current contentious negotiations between the UAW and GM to make it into a final agreement. Mr. Fain said he expects Ford and Stellantis to also put its battery plants under the UAW’s master contract.

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Second, and of critical importance, Ultium Cells, a GM joint venture with South Korea’s LG Energy Solutions, must have job openings for workers from Toledo to transfer back there, said Rob Morales, a Toledo Propulsion worker who still maintains a home in Boardman, outside Lordstown.

Workers from Toledo will not have the right to “bump” into Ultium Cells or use seniority to supplant a worker already at the plant, he said. That means it would be a slow process, even with new contractual rights, for opportunities to open at the Ultium plant, he said.

One last catch: Many ex-Lordstown Assembly workers took $30,000 buyouts when they left four years ago, waiving their right to return to another GM facility in the area.

Mr. Finley took that buyout because he figured Lordstown would never reopen and another nearby facility, Parma Metal Facility, likely was on borrowed time.

In fact, Parma stayed open, and Lordstown workers who took lesser monetary amounts of about $5,000 to retain so-called area rights would have first call on job openings at Ultium Cells over those who waived their rights, he said.

“There are still a lot of questions,” Mr. Morales, 52, said.

‘Definitely go back’

There are similar questions for the roughly 300 workers from Illinois who now build Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators in Toledo after their home assembly plant in Belvidere scaled back production and ultimately went dark earlier this year.

Dave Covert, a millwright, started renting an apartment in Toledo earlier this year after Belvidere shut down and commutes the six hours back and forth to his be with his wife whenever possible.

The 67-year-old said he would jump at the chance to move back if the next contract included a deal to reopen the plant. He said there have been rumblings about turning it into an EV or battery plant. And earlier in negotiations, Jeep-owner Stellantis had reportedly pitched reopening the facility as a large parts distribution hub, according to a CNBC report.

“Right now, it’s just idled, which gives Stellantis the option of doing what they want there," Mr. Covert said of the facility, adding he would "definitely go back there, no matter what it was, [even] if it's just parts distribution."

Others ​Jeep workers are committed to staying in Toledo long-term.

Ken Richards, 42, was transferred from Belvidere last year and said he and his wife and five children plan to build a life here and buy a house soon, even if Stellantis breathes new life into his old plant.

He said he doesn't trust that the company can be talked into reopening the plant, and even if it was, ​he doesn't believe it would remain open long term.

"Belvidere has always been last on everybody's mind, in terms of product placement and everything like that," he said.

It would also be hard for him to return from a technical standpoint, Mr. Richards said. Like Mr. Finley, he took a hefty buyout and signed paperwork that essentially says he is relocating for the long haul.

Mr. Richards estimated 60 percent of his ex-Belvidere colleagues at Jeep are committed to staying in Toledo long term, while the rest would jump at the opportunity to head home if the plant were to reopen.

Long drives, high costs

Mr. Finley said there’s been a tremendous extra expense of paying for two residences — his mortgage in Lordstown and rent for an apartment he splits with Mr. Morales in Perrysburg. Then there's the $400 a month in gas to get back and forth each week.

Being away from family, however, is exponentially harder, Mr. Morales and Mr. Finley said.

Mr. Morales said when he first started working in Toledo, his son was in high school and it was all he could do to make his sporting events and be available to his wife and two daughters, the latter of whom attended Youngstown State University.

Mr. Finley agreed being away takes a mental toll. While he can get home on weekends or in an emergency, being separated from his wife and now 13-year-old daughter means they’re not sharing life together as they should, he said.

Bob Mooney, a 62-year-old assembler on the eight-speed transmission line at Toledo Propulsion, said he’s been commuting weekly to the plant from Vienna, east of Lordstown near the Pennsylvania line.

With his age and seniority at GM, he said he’ll probably retire before an opportunity opens for him to return to the Lordstown area at Ultium or anywhere else.

And that’s OK, because he’s watched his money over the years, he said, and can look forward to rejoining family when the time for retirement arrives.

Meantime, Toledo Propulsion has afforded him the chance to keep working after Lordstown and still be near enough to family to take care of business in a pinch, Mr. Mooney said.

“I’m not going to get closer to home than Toledo,” he said.

First Published October 11, 2023, 9:40 p.m.

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John Finley poses for a photo after signing up for UAW strike pay at UAW Local 14 in Toledo, Oct. 11.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
Bob Mooney, center, signs up for strike pay with other workers.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
Bob Mooney uses his phone to sign up for strike pay.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
Bob Mooney, center, signs up for strike pay.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
Workers sign up for strike pay.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
John Finley poses for a photo after signing up for UAW strike pay.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
Bob Mooney signs up for strike pay with other workers.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
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