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New GM plant near New Carlisle to create 2,000 construction jobs
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — Around 2,000 workers will be needed for the construction of the new GM plant near New Carlisle.
The South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce and a local union are optimistic they’ll have the amount of people necessary.
With the new GM plant coming near New Carlisle, many tradespeople will be needed to help build the plant.
One local union manager says they will find the people to work on this massive project.
He says this will give younger apprentices an opportunity to get more experience for their future careers.
We have a bunch of people that are getting ready to retire in the next five or so years and this project is a 3+ year project so we’re going to probably almost double our apprenticeship class just to fill the needs for the new battery plant so that fills a void of what we’re going to have in the future for journeymen that are retired,” said Mike Leda, Business Manager of IBEW 153.
Leda says the first wave of workers on this more than $3-billion plant project will be local.
“The first wave of workers will be local guys from the area and as time progresses on, we’ll probably be reaching out in the area and what do I mean by reaching out? LaPorte, Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo, Gary, Hammond area, so we’re not talking all across the country. Will we have some people possibly coming, yes, from across the country, because this type of work is unique and individuals like to work on these types of job,” said Leda.
He says this project will need 600 electricians alone, but other projects will not suffer as a result.
The other projects in the area, we like to call them our bread-and-butter work, you always worry about you don’t want to lose that work because they’re around here all the time before the big project, the battery plant, and after the construction’s done,” said Leda.
Jeff Rea has been an instrumental part in bringing the EV battery plant to St. Joseph County.
He calls it a potential once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these tradespeople.
“This is the largest single investment in Indiana’s history, obviously the largest in our area, this would be one of the biggest construction projects ever in these parts and so we’re estimating up to 2,000 construction workers will be needed to put this 3 million+ square foot facility together,” said Jeff Rea, President, and CEO of South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Rea says the number of workers is a daunting one, but with GM’s help, the chamber and the union aren’t sweating it.
Never have we seen a job that needed 2,000 people and so right away, because it’s larger it’s different than what we’ve had, puts some concern in but obviously GM’s conversations with the trades and with the local community have put them at ease, that they felt like they could meet their time frames so we’re optimistic about it,” said Rea.
Leda expressed excitement over this opportunity, and says this project is a win-win for the area and for tradespeople.
