The World is Changing: GM Pontiac Plant Closing Strikes Close to Home

This report from the Detroit News strikes close to home:

Oakland County is taking a major hit in General Motors Corp.’s restructuring in bankruptcy, with an estimated 6,600 of the 8,900 factory jobs lost in Michigan based in the affluent county north of Detroit.

But one of the plants to be idled, in Orion Township, is in the running to build a small car in the future, said GM spokesman Chris Lee. The Orion site currently assembles the mid-size Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6.

“It’s a real sad day,” said UAW Local 549 President Doug Bowman in Pontiac. Workers at Pontiac Assembly, which makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, were told by plant officials at 8:15 a.m. the 3.4 million-square-foot plant will close in October or possibly sooner, Bowman said. In reality, the workers may have just a few weeks in the plant. The plant already is slated to be idled for five weeks starting June 11 to reduce inventory. The Pontiac Stamping plant, originally opened in 1926, has been put on standby capacity and will be idled December 2010.

It’s a sign of the times, one of those things that’s hard to put into words. My dad worked more than 30 years in the Pontiac plant. My Grandpa worked there before him. The world is changing fast, and Pontiac must feel like a bleak and desperate victim of it all.

Here’s to a better future for Michigan, for our nation. And on a less serious note, here’s to the 2012 Congressional Motors Pelosi GTxi SS/Rt Sports Edition.