I imagine the possibility of applying at other GM locations was “ very comforting” for the Lordstown workers. The people who worked at a place with tradition, who bought houses there, formed lives there, put their kids through school being betrayed by GM, their own, but for me, that just shows that there is little or none long-term vision at the company. Selling out their workers for a short-term accumulation of money will backfire on them, mark my words.
If the company had any real vision it would have been much easier to retrain the workers that it has for the new products ( making electric cars or whatever) than cutting them and employing unexperienced cheaper labor at different locations. Car assembling is a specific industry that, no matter what level of automation you have, heavily relies on the craftsmanship of the workers, their experience and tradition. It’s not like this is Burger King, where you can just hire someone else to flip burgers. I know it’s little comfort for the affected workers but they will see the degree of their mistake soon enough.