GM smiles on Janesville's tech-savvy work force

Opened in 1919 to produce tractors, the General Motors assembly plant in Janesville is among the oldest of its kind in the United States.

But it wasn't the age of the brick-and-mortar that mattered when GM decided in November which plants to close and how many workers to cut.

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What mattered was on the inside: a productive, tech-savvy work force, product lines that sell, and a tradition of cooperation that extended beyond the plant gates. The GM plant in Janesville will survive because it is tooled for the future, not the past.

GM tried to banish talk of bankruptcy in November when it announced plans to save $7 billion a year by cutting 30,000 North American jobs (about 5,000 more than previously announced) and closing five vehicle factories.

The plan will reduce GM's production capacity by about 800,000 units a year to 4.2 million units by 2008, meaning that Japan's Toyota will probably become the world's largest automaker within two years.

GM's market share in the United States fell from 43 percent in 1982 to 26.4 percent in the third quarter of 2005. It has reported losses of $3.8 billion through the third quarter.

With more employees laid off and more plants closed than expected, why was the Janesville plant spared? Here are some reasons:

The Janesville plant primarily makes full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe and the GMC Yukon and Denali. The plant will continue those lines and produce GM's next generation of SUVs, the more fuel-efficient 900 series.

GM is investing $175 million in the Janesville plant for the new SUV line, which is set to go on sale in January. The state of Wisconsin has contributed $10 million for training and other assistance.

A sign that GM would keep the Janesville plant open came recently when the company decided to shift full-sized SUV production from a plant in Mexico so that plant could focus on truck assembly.

Management and labor in Janesville have historically worked together to manage change, which is now a permanent part of the automotive industry. That kind of cooperation has inspired political collaboration outside of the factory gates.

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson helped pay for road work that made truck routes from Interstate 90 to the GM plant more direct. Under Doyle, $10 million in incentives have been arranged for job training, energy assistance and a distribution center in Hudson. Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature are willing to support such measures because they know the payback comes in the form of high-paying jobs.

"The relationship between the state, the UAW and General Motors ... makes a big difference when General Motors decides which plants are going to stay and which ones are going to go," said Mike Sheridan, president of UAW Local 95 and a member of the Legislature.

Over time, the automobile industry worldwide will have fewer jobs, not more, so there is no such thing as a permanent reprieve. For now, however, GM remains a big part of Janesville and Wisconsin. Maybe that 100th anniversary in 2019 is possible after all.