FX’s The Weekly Episode 6 recap: General Motors makes shift in new direction, but at what cost?

On the most recent episode of FX’s The Weekly, audiences get a broader look at General Motors and its’ decision to shut down several North American manufacturing plants. Check out our recap of the episode below.

In the sixth episode of FX’s The Weekly series, the Times’ journalists set out to investigate General Motors’ recent shift from manufacturing basic cars and trucks to technologically-advanced alternatives. Their move wouldn’t be especially important if thousands of jobs weren’t being forfeited as a result.

To get to the bottom of what’s happening, the New York Times’ team head to the forefront of the ongoing fight in Lordstown, Ohio. There, Sabrina Tavernise meets with Werner Lange, a retired Kent State professor. He’s on the side of the road with a sign that says “Save The Plant” and it’s an important mission for him and many others.

Werner says quite a bit when Sabrina arrives to interview him but one quote stood out more than others. It went along the lines of “if that plant sinks, that community sinks. In fact, the entire valley sinks.”. Werner wraps up that statement with a note of how communities failing would be an American tragedy, to which he’s correct about.

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While the subject of fairness is plain and simple here, General Motors’ ultimate decisions are a bit more complicated. They’ve conducted their restructuring so as to adapt to the modern era, becoming fiscally conscientious in the process. But what the manufacturing company has failed to do is acknowledge that thousands of their employees’ lives are going to be upended by the sudden shift.

Testimonies from UAW (United Auto Workers) members spoke to the fact that plant workers were utterly devastated by the news of their plant shutting down. Fortunately, they took that devastation in stride and continued to persevere, setting out to have the Lordstown plant reopened.

The G.M. employees who attended UAW meetings following the announcement pointed out that the company offered to transfer them to other facilities, but those would be out of state, once again reiterating why people’s lives would be uprooted by General Motors’ callous actions.

As far as reasons go, G.M. attributes their decisions to shifts in car sales and the uptick in ridesharing services which are eliminating the need for people to buy new cars. Those two factors are pushing all manufacturing companies in the auto industry to invest in other areas. For General Motors, it’s software engineering.

Mary Barra, the company’s chief executive, has taken the lead on General Motors’ transition from producing vehicles like the Chevy Cruze to more technologically cognizant alternatives. Keep in mind that she has a huge weight on her shoulders navigating through this critical juncture in time.

Barra says the company has made several concessions for displaced workers so they could build lives close to new plants but that’s not going over well with everyone. And since not every employee can just pick up and move on a moment’s notice, General Motors’ offer doesn’t work.

So we’re basically back to square one with the dilemma: General Motors is closing down several plants while employees struggle to get them to reopen. Both sides are fighting a losing battle as the issue only continues to intensify, and the ongoing battle will persist as these almost 14,000 families figure out how to move forward.

What were your thoughts on The Weekly’s latest episode? Let us know in the comments section below.

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

(Source: The Times)