UAW official blames GOP budget bill and tax credit repeal for Valley job losses

LORDSTOWN, Ohio - A regional United Auto Workers director is attributing recent mass layoffs at the Ultium Cells battery plant in Lordstown to the Republican-led repeal of electric vehicle tax credits, marking a sharp pivot in the union’s relationship with the current administration.

In a commentary published in the Ohio Capitol Journal on Wednesday, UAW Region 2B Director David Green criticized the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the federal budget legislation signed into law last summer. Green argued that the bill's elimination of federal incentives has devastated the Mahoning Valley’s economic recovery and thrown the domestic auto industry into instability.

The criticism follows an announcement last month that the Ultium Cells facility in Lordstown would cut 550 jobs and temporarily lay