As one door closes, another one opens: GM announces tentative deal to bring new transmission line to St. Catharines

It was only a few weeks ago that word hit the region hard: John Deere would be closing its plant in Welland taking more than 800 jobs with it when it went. Flash forward to today, GM has announced plans to bring a new transmission line to the St. Catharines that should secure the jobs of about 300 factory workers.

Nearly 20 years ago NAFTA was brought into effect, and since then manufacturing jobs in Niagara have been drying up like a soda pop in the desert. While factory work no longer represents the future of our local economy, it's nice to see that GM hasn't forgotten about us completely. Thousands of people still work in this sector -- most of them for 20+ years -- and wouldn't know where to begin if they were displaced from their jobs.

Kudos to GM for doing what was needed to help keep the employees at Plant 2 on Glendale in steady work for the foreseeable future.

Photo: Niagara Falls Library

TAGS: Gm, Jobs, Niagara Region, Stcatharines