For just the second time since GM built a plant in Spring Hill 30 years ago, the automaker is hiring locally. The company has the potential to double its current workforce of 1,800 with two new vehicles to build.
The fate of the Spring Hill plant has been in some doubt since the vehicle assembly lines were
idled in 2009. Four-cylinder engines have continued to be produced. And the plant has been a secondary site to build the Chevy Traverse and Equinox.
But now the plant, which in
sheer size is GM’s largest in North America, has been assigned to build a Cadillac SUV and another soon-to-be-named vehicle, thought to be a
smaller version of the GMC Acadia.
“These are going to be core products built at the Spring Hill plant. We’re going to be the ones primarily responsible for them,” spokesperson Kristy Bergstrom says. “That’s a huge vote of confidence. And at least to the local community, I think that should reinforce we’re here to stay. We’re back.”
The Spring Hill facility has done some local hiring here and there, but many employees are still the ones who relocated from other plants when the facility opened as the one-and-only Saturn plant.
Most of the time, applicants need a referral from someone already employed by GM Spring Hill. But on Wednesday morning, GM issues an open call for applications (
link to application portal).
The pay range depends entirely on the outcome of
negotiations currently underway with the UAW. The union has been trying to
raise the hourly rates for new-hires, which was slashed during the company’s bankruptcy.
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