General Motors annouced plans to invest another $20 million into its Arlington assembly plant. The money will upgrade equipment ahead of GM's new SUV launch.
The $20 million dollars for Arlington Assembly won't create new jobs — and it won't fund pay raises for the 4,500 men and women who work there.
It will upgrade equipment that often runs six or seven days a week; during three different shifts.
"There's a conveyance system that moves bodies from body shop through our paint shop into our general assembly shop, and those conveyors take a lot of beating, because basically they carry every product we make. Over 350,000 of them a year here," said Gerald Johnson, GM's Executive Vice President of Global Marketing.
Johnson said these upgrades are crucial before the company launches it's new line of full-size SUVs.
"The Tahoe and Yukon and Escalade that we have today, we're going to upgrade those to new products. But we'll still have a Tahoe, a Yukon and an Escalade," he said.
United Auto Workers Local 276 was at the annoucement. To shop chairman Kenny Hines, these upgrades mean stability.
"Job security for the future. It gives us a platform on which to build the new vehicle that not only is good for us, but it's good for the entire community," Hines said.
GM will finish the project sometime next year. No word yet on when the new SUVs will launch.
