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The last compact car has rolled off the line at General Motors’ massive assembly plant in Ohio as the automaker began moving toward its future while workers wondered about theirs.

Somber workers posted photos of the final Chevrolet Cruze making its way down the assembly line near Youngstown, where more than 50 years of car manufacturing came to an end.

 

The final Chevy Cruze made at GM’s Youngstown’s plant.

 

The Cruze, which as been made at the plant since 2011, will still be made in Mexico for markets outside the U.S. The Cruze was the only vehicle made at the plant and will no longer be sold in the U.S. for now.

GM is eliminating all 1,700 hourly positions, perhaps for good, at the factory, which is the first of five North American auto plants that it intends to shut down by early next year.

The additional devastation it could cause throughout the community, especially to small business, cannot yet be measured.

The plant closings are part of a major restructuring for GM, which plans to shed as many as 14,000 workers and shift its focus to making trucks, SUVs and electric and autonomous vehicles.

Signs with sayings such as ‘Save this Plant’ were scattered outside the plant where about 100 workers gathered to say goodbye in the cold.

‘It’s frustrating,’ said Jeff Nance, who has worked at Lordstown for 17 years. ‘I’m angry and bitter. Watching that last car go by was a kick in the gut.’

Like many workers, Shaun Winkler said he’s still considering whether to transfer to another GM plant where there are openings.

UAW 1112 President Dave Green said he took an emotional walk around the factory floor during the final shift.

‘It’s gut-wrenching. People were crying, they’re frustrated and they feel like they’ve done everything right,’ Green said.

The UAW claimed in a recent federal lawsuit that its existing contract prohibits GM from idling plants.

Green has urged workers to remain hopeful, saying their fate will ultimately be decided at the bargaining table.

President Trump and a coalition of Ohio lawmakers have been pressuring the automaker to find a way to bring new work to the plant, which employed 4,500 people just two years ago but has been down to one shift since last summer.

Trump has shown a particular interest in the Lordstown plant, singling it out as one he wants to stay open.

It’s in area of the state that will be important to him in the 2020 election, and it’s where he told supporters at a rally last year that manufacturing jobs are coming back.

Back in 2016, Trump visited Trumbull County on the campaign trail.

“He told everybody, ‘Don’t sell your houses. Manufacturing’s going to come back to your area,’” said Nanette Senters, a GM Lordstown employee for 20 years.

At a campaign rally that summer in Columbus, Trump promised to make Ohio a “manufacturing behemoth.”

“This is like a kick in the stomach and a slap in the face,” Senters said.

Last December she joined an advocacy organization Good Jobs Nation, which demands that Trump sign an executive order to deny federal contracts to companies when they outsource jobs.

The organization launched a letter-writing campaign to get Trump’s attention.

“Never heard a word,” she said. “He lied. He doesn’t care.”

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