With General Motors filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Gov. Jim Doyle maintains hope for the future of the already closed auto manufacturing plants in Janesville and Kenosha.
A year ago, GM announced that it would be closing its Janesville plant by 2010 and Chrysler revealed in April that it had targeted the Chrysler plant in Kenosha for shutdown as a part of their bankruptcy proceedings.
After meeting with GM executives over the weekend, Doyle learned the manufacturing plant at Janesville would not be sold as part of the bankruptcy and is one of three assembly plants being considered by GM to possibly manufacture small cars at some point in the future, according to a statement.
Doyle expressed similar hope for the future of the Chrysler plant in Kenosha since its bankruptcy agreement does not include the sale of the plant there, but leaves open the possibility that the Italian based Fiat, who could soon own a minority stake in the company, may be able to make an offer on the property.
“We do have hope and can compete for jobs manufacturing cars,” Doyle said in the statement.
However, this hope may be minimal and should be kept in a context that encourages factory workers to develop other skills that will make them competitive in a changing job market, according to Chip Hunter, associate professor of management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin.
“If [people in these communities] are able to convince either GM or somebody else that the combination of labor and technology that exists in those plants would be better than other choices they have out there, then it is hopeful,” Hunter said.?
This could be a loftier task than it seems, however, as he does not see much that is actually that unique about them.
“They weren’t outstandingly bad…they also weren’t outstandingly good,” Hunter said. “They didn’t have brand new technology; they didn’t have an amazing workforce.”
UW professor Mason Carpenter was similarly weary about investing too much hope in the future of the Janesville plant.
“I think until a product is actually assigned to that plant, it is as good as closed,” Carpenter said.
He also expressed skepticism about the possible purchase of the Kenosha plant by Fiat, as the company has only recently been somewhat financially successful and has never been successful in the United States.
Both Carpenter and Hunter agreed that the best thing for workers displaced by these closings to do is “re-skill” and “re-tool.”
“I think many of those workers have been doing that and the ones that have been doing it the most are going to do the best moving forward; the ones that haven’t, I think, are going to be reminded that they don’t have a choice anymore,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter went on to assure those citizens directly affected by this matter.
“As painful as this is now, we know that economic times get better, if these out of work workers can focus on that I hope that will help them through this tough time,” he said.
