Wentzville appears to be within days of a General Motors commitment to expand its van plant, adding another vehicle line and hiring hundreds of workers.
Mayor Paul Lambi has heard the auto workers union say a new contract would restore 800 jobs that were cut from the van line when demand slumped and production was reduced. Demand is back up so van production is being increased. The union says GM will announce after a new union contract is signed that a new line will add as many as 18-hundred-75 more workers making the Colorado light pickup truck.
Lambi says that will be a huge economic jolt for Wentzville.. “Every dollar of income earned in a community re-circulates seven times,” he says, “If you have one job of $65,000 a year, that 65,000 annual income times seven is the impact in the community….If you have 1,800 of those jobs, that’s really, really big.”
And he says there will be substantial ripples. Lambi says each job at the factory generates three jobs elsewhere in Missouri making the parts that will be assembled in Wentzville.
The union votes on the new contract next Monday.
Listen to inerview with Mayor Paul Lambi 18:40 mp3
