BUCYRUS—On Tuesday during his visit to Crawford County, U.S. Congressman, Mr. Jim Jordan, who represents Ohio’s fourth congressional district, met with GE employees.
At the meeting, GE employees discussed the closing down of the LED lighting line that resulted in the loss of over eighty jobs, and how representative Jordan could help support them in their fight against this movement. The follow-up email, written by Will Evans, GE-Savant worker, and president of IUE-CWA Local 84704, can be found below.
Dear Representative Jordan,
I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you and Mayor Jeff Reser today. To recap our conversation, I requested:
- That you reach out to CEO’s of Walmart, GE and GE-Savant as Senator Brown has done.
It is important that they continue to hear from our elected leaders that you are not giving up on these jobs and you are not giving up on making LED “green” bulbs in the USA.
- Please try and get the support of the Republican Congressional Caucus for making LED bulbs in the USA,
- Please ask for Senator Portman’s support.
- Please ask Governor Mike DeWine for his support and ask him to seek support of the GOP Governors Association and the National Governors Association.
We are happy to have the support of Senator Sherrod Brown and Congressman Tim Ryan. But the effort to keep good green jobs in the USA should not be a partisan issue. We hope that you and other Republican elected officials will work with Democrats in Congress and the Biden Administration to save our jobs.
Please note that there is actually an opportunity to bring additional LED jobs back to Ohio. Our previous plant manager was beginning to gear up our plant with machinery to make the bulb filaments that we were importing from China to assemble here. And the glass for the bulb shipped here from Hungary used to be manufactured at the GE Lighting plant in Logan, Ohio and should also be repatriated so that Walmart can promote the sale of 100% made in USA LED bulbs.
Sincerely,
Will Evans
President
IUE-CWA Local 84704