GM closing of oldest plant is "kick in the gut"

JANESVILLE, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Angry U.S. autoworkers and Wisconsin's governor said they were devastated by General Motors' announcement on Tuesday it would shutter its Janesville plant and three others, promising to fight the closing.

"I'm really mad and I want to get even with GM," said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, flanked by several stern-faced workers at the United Auto Worker union hall adjacent to GM's cavernous Janesville plant.

Doyle said he would seek to recover a $10 million incentive the state paid to GM when the automaker spent $170 million to retool the Janesville plant's assembly line. The plant has built GM vehicles since 1919 and is the company's oldest.

Doyle said GM's decision "felt like a kick in the gut," and criticized GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner for not apologizing to the 10,000 workers affected by the move.

"There wasn't even an 'I'm sorry.' There was just a 'too bad' and this is the way it is in this economy," Doyle said.

Wagoner said the automaker's response to high gasoline prices it views as a permanent threat to its business would be to close four truck plants: Janesville; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico.

"We're extremely disappointed," said John Dohner, head of the United Auto Workers local in Janesville. "We produce SUV's with pride and dignity here. It's no fault of ours that the market has shifted."

Dohner said he would push GM to reverse the decision to close the plant in late 2010, and instead enlist workers to build the cars and cross-over vehicles being planned.

But retooling an assembly line can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and Wagoner ruled out that approach.

Those who man the assembly lines said they were devastated by the impending closure, although there were signs of trouble as the plant's payroll has shrunk steadily over the years. Last month, GM announced layoffs of 750 of the Janesville facility's 2,600 workers to eliminate one of two shifts.

Though no longer the largest employer in the southern Wisconsin city, the GM workers' $229 million payroll was a significant boon to the local economy.

"This is terrible news for the families of employees at GM ... and other local suppliers. It is also devastating news for our local economy," State Rep. Mike Sheridan, a 30-year GM employee, who just retired as president of the union local, said in a statement.

Pam Good, 40, who has worked at the plant for 22 years since her high school graduation had hoped to retire from there.

"I have no idea what I'll do if and when the plant closes," she said.

(Writing by Andrew Stern; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)