GM Announces Addition and Retention of 1,260 Jobs Today at Wentzville Plant

Officials from General Motors and the United Auto Workers announced the addition or retention of 1,260 new jobs and a second shift at the

GM will shift the manufacture of its Chevrolet Colorado, a mid-size pickup truck, to the plant.

Cathy Clegg, GM's vice president of Manufacturing and Labor, was joined by other GM officials, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Mayor Paul Lambi at an 11 a.m. press conference.

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, GM will announce a $380 million expansion at the truck plant. The investment and expansion will add a second shift to the plant.

The company  previously requested incentives to build a half-million square foot addition to its existing 3.7 million plant. The company provided no timeline for construction. The city of Wentzville in September for the plant, which allow GM to abate some of the costs of the expansion.

The additional shift is expected to add 400 jobs beginning in January. Some of those workers will come from a GM plant in Spring Hill, TN. Other workers could be shifted from a GM plant in Shreveport, LA, which is slated to close in August 2012.

The Wentzville plant, which opened in 1983, is the producer of GM's Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans, the large commercial and passenger vans.

The addition of the second shift and new jobs will add to the great growth Wentzville has seen over the past few years. According to census data, between 2000 and 2010.

Growth in retail and restaurants has added to the the expansion of the city. In 2011 alone, announced plans to put stores in Wentzville.

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