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Feb. 22, 2010:

Updated at 5:21 p.m..

LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- General Motors' decision

to

restart a third shift at its Lordstown complex, taking on 1,200 more workers, is about more than simple product planning.

It is a leap of faith for the company that came dangerously close to disappearing last year.

"This is ground zero" for the recovery of GM and the U.S. economy, Mark Reuss, president of GM's North American operations, said at the plant this afternoon.

The Trumbull County plant will start adding a small number of workers for a third shift in July, he said, beginning a slow ramp-up toward full production of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze in December.

Plant manager John Donahoe said he expects the complex to be fully staffed with 4,500 workers by the end of the year -- up from 3,300 now and as few as 2,000 at the beginning of last year. The complex hit its peak in 1985 when 12,000 clocked in each day.

GM in Lordstown

1966: Assembly plant opens with 5,700 workers.

1968: GM adds a van plant and a stamping plant, employing 7,700, to the complex, but shuts car plant for retooling.

1985: Employment peaks at 12,000 with the van plant, car plant and stamping plant all running.

1991: GM closes the van plant, cutting about 5,000 jobs

2000: After years of steady declines, 8,000 people work at the plants.

2003: Employment drops to 6,000.

2006: GM ends the third shift. Employment falls to about 2,200.

2008: GM restarts the third shift. Employment hits 3,500.

2009: GM cancels the second and third shifts at the plant, cutting employment to 2,000. Toward the end of the summer, the company brings back the second shift.

2010: At the start of the year, employment hits 3,300 workers on two shifts. By year's end, the company expects 4,500 people on three shifts.

SOURCE: Plain Dealer files, General Motors

About 350 Lordstown GM workers still on layoff will be recalled first, said United Auto Workers Local 1112 President Jim Graham. They lost their jobs early last year when auto sales plummeted and Lordstown went from three production shifts to one. The plant restarted its second shift last summer.

Graham said Lordstown also will probably get a lot of transfers from plants that GM has closed or where it has cut jobs. Among them is the Mansfield stamping plant, about 90 miles away, which GM shuttered last year.

"We haven't gone through all of the numbers yet, so we just don't know where everybody's going to come from," Graham said.

The compact Cruze that the Lordstown workers will build replaces the compact Cobalt in Chevrolet's lineup. And for the first time, Reuss said, GM has a small car that "blows away its competitors." GM is showing confidence that it will be a success by increasing production capacity even before the car goes on sale.

The Cruze will definitely be an Ohio effort. Its engine block will come from GM's foundry in Defiance, the transmission will come from Toledo, and GM's stamping plant in Parma will make nearly 50 parts for the vehicle.

Parma will have a much bigger role in building the Cruze than it does the Cobalt, said Arvin Jones, manufacturing manager for GM. Parma now makes only a few underbody parts for the Cobalt.

"They're going to be responsible for a huge portion of this vehicle," Jones said.

Gov. Ted Strickland and other political leaders were on hand for GM's announcement. Strickland praised the company and its workers for making the event possible.

"We are here to celebrate a bright future," Strickland said.

Workers basked in the moment. Following a year in which thousands of their friends and co-workers lost jobs, their employer went through bankruptcy and the future of auto manufacturing in the Mahoning Valley was at risk, they see hope for a comeback.

"A year ago, it looked pretty grim out here. Cars just weren't selling," said Jim Moore, a 40-year veteran of the plant and a quality coordinator. "It looks like we've got a good product. I'm looking forward to it."