FX’s The Weekly episode six preview: General Motors closing its’ doors

In this week’s episode of the documentary series, The Weekly, its’ focus will be on General Motors closing down multiple North American facilities. Keep in mind that the people who work for GM are the ones most impacted by the closures.

The modern era has seen manufacturing companies shift their investments in handmade goods to things made on a line with little to no human oversight more and more frequently. Veteran companies like General Motors are doing the same, closing down essential plants like the Lordstown facility in Ohio.

Episode six of FX’s The Weekly will follow the New York Times’ team as they investigate how the closure of GM’s Lordstown plant is impacting the community, specifically the thousands of employees laid off as a result.

The promo for “The End of the Line” hints at how people’s lives are being upended by GM’s callous decision, emphasizing the distress people are now under. Individuals interviewed in the episode also reiterate how the company’s move was done without consideration of what it would do to their employees.

Back in 2018 when General Motors announced that it would be closing five factories in North America, the news shocked many as it would mean an estimated 14,000 jobs were going to be forfeit. Layoffs are expected when any manufacturing plant closes down but the sudden layoff of 14,000 employees turned heads. It seemed unfair to so many but that wasn’t a valid concern to General Motors.

The Times’ investigation into why GM took such drastic action will explore how the decision was a fiscally responsible one, it just wasn’t done in the best interest of GM’s employees. A slowdown in new car sales is the cause attributed to many factories lying idle, forcing inevitable closures. This isn’t anyone’s fault but the plants’ closures still mean thousands of people are going to lose their jobs.

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Additionally, “The End of the Line” will also devote a small portion of time to exploring the promise made by President Trump. He’s apparently come to the aid of GM’s laid off employees, though little has been done to make good on the promise of bringing jobs back.

President Trump left quite the impression on his supporters in Ohio, insisting that he’d convince GM’s chief executive to bring something back. He didn’t specify as to what but we can safely assume Trump was referring to another manufacturing plant. Progress has been made with facilities like the Orion Assembly but not every American town is quite as lucky.

The problem, however, still hasn’t been solved. Sales of new vehicles are still declining which means there’s no need for manufacturing facilities like General Motors to keep producing hundreds of thousands of units every year. And without a need for a product, there’s no need for a workforce to create them either.

What are your thoughts on General Motors’ latest decisions? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Weekly airs Sundays on FX. Episodes are uploaded to Hulu the following day. All five episodes are currently streaming. For more on this FX series, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.

(Source: New York Times)