Shreveport GM to increase production

We want to tell you about some good news for local General Motors workers.

The Shreveport GM manager says the economy is picking up and that means more work for our plant. Nbc 6 news reporter Karen Hopkins has how the positive news will affect families this holiday season.

“Positive news is always good news." GM worker Gary Pilhorn knows all about the bad times. After a New York plant sold, Pilhorn moved to Shreveport. "Next GM is filing bankruptcy," and as the automaker struggled, Pilhorn was laid off for ten months. He just got back in august. “It's real tough, I’m still struggling to get back, getting so far in debt, trying to catch up."

Now he'll get that chance. Shreveport GM is calling all workers back a week early after Christmas break. Plant manager Michael Dulaney says more people are buying cars, and that means more hours of pay for Pilhorn. “Always good to have your money coming in."

So far the automaker says our plant will close by June 2012.
“It’s scheduled to close by June 2012, if the economy picks up maybe we'll keep building trucks," Pilhorn says.

Because building these trucks, Pilhorn says supports his family and daughter Elizabeth. But it’s not just his household, Shreveport GM means a lot to our local economy.

The GM holiday shutdown starts December 24th. Dulaney says workers will return a week early on January 11th. The next scheduled close is the first two weeks of February. But Dulaney says if demand is up, the plant could stay open.