U.S. lawmakers are hauling General Motors CEO Mary Barra to Capitol Hill for a series of private meetings this week as the company comes under fire after announcing up to 14,000 job cuts.
Barra isn’t publicly testifying this week, GM spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan confirmed. She’s scheduled to meet behind closed doors with several lawmakers representing regions that will be hit hard by the cuts, congressional aides said.
Ohio Sens. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, as well as Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, are scheduled to meet with Barra Wednesday afternoon. She’s also meeting Wednesday with Maryland lawmakers, including Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat.
Barra’s scheduled to meet Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, among other lawmakers, on Thursday.
GM said it plans to cut production at several plants in North America, including two in Michigan, one in Ohio, and one in Maryland. It’s also cutting back production in Canada.
The automaker has said the factories aren’t running at full capacity and are building mostly slow-selling and less-profitable cars. GM has said some of the 14,000 jobs may be shifted to other facilities, but labor leaders say they worry the move is a pretext to move more jobs outside the United States.
“It’s important for GM and Mary Barra to have very serious conversations with members,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said in a statement Tuesday. “Honestly, they should be having these critical conversations more often so we can keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S.”
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