Indianapolis GM plant to close in June 2011

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - 600 jobs are in Jeopardy. Today, General Motors set a shutdown date for its Indianapolis stamping plant.

24 Hour News 8 broke the story Tuesday afternoon on WISHTV.COM.

A General Motors spokesperson told 24 Hour News 8, production ends June 2011. They also say the plant will be completely closed by December 2011.

The news comes as the local and international unions are fighting over a plan that could keep this plant open.

A full page ad in this morning's Indianapolis allowed J-D Norman industries to give its side of the story.

J-D Norman's plan to save the plant would mean 600 union workers could see pay cuts of as much as 50 percent.

Sunday, the local union fought with the international union over the plan and the local union refused to allow a vote on it.

James Medendhall, a plant worker told 24 Hour News 8 he was sorry it ended that way.

"I don't know, the meeting they had the other day. I might have liked to hear what they had to say. Instead of people being really angry and mad. They could have still voted though. They could have maybe listened."

But the fight within the union had G-M moving quickly to set a shutdown date.

“Whether it pans out or not, who knows," said a union worker.

The J-D Norman newspaper ad indicates the company has not yet given up on a deal to buy the Indianapolis stamping plant. But the cuts don't appear to be open for negotiation.

So today, plant workers got the word. Production ends next June. The local union president didn't know the date had been set until I told him.

24-Hours News 8 asked the local union president Ray Kennedy, "Do you have any sense of what happens now?”

His response was, “No. Not until tomorrow to where I get with the plant manager and personnel... and get a focus and probably some documentation."

General Motors told us, employees inside the plant got the word on the shutdown date throughout the day.

But many we talked with hadn't yet heard about it. Unless something changes, production ends here for G-M in 10 months.