General Motors CEO Mary Barra holding private meetings

General Motors CEO and Chairwoman Mary Barra will hold private meetings today with leaders of other states as the fight for auto jobs continues. Barra spoke last night at GM headquarters, one of the first times she's spoken publicly since announcing job cuts in Michigan, Ohio and Canada. Seven Action News reporter Jennifer Ann Wilson is live at the GM headquarters there at the Renaissance Center. And Jenna, what are these private meetings about? Well, we know that today Ohio's governor and lieutenant governor have come to our state in order to meet with automakers like Ceo Mary Barra to woo her. It convinced her essentially sell their state to her to say, hey, keep the jobs we have and let's make new ones. This, of course, in the wake of the plant closures right here in Michigan and just across the border in Canada. Mary Barra. She addressed those closures last night in the meeting, saying it was all part of a bigger plan. We knew we need to make that change and we timed it because we thought it provided the best opportunity for our employees. Auto executives inside the Marriott at the Renaissance Center for the Automotive News Worldwide Congress discussed the future of the automotive industry. GM chairwoman and Ceo Mary Barra addressed recent cuts and some specific things within GM. We knew it was time to make to make some of the next steps in the transformation of the company. And we also looked and said the best time to do it is when the economy is strong. Barra also spoke about retraining some of the employees impacted by plant closures both here in Michigan and across the border in Canada. Each person has a different, you know, a different career ambition or a different, you know, their mobility, their flexibility. So we're working with them. There's also retraining opportunities and similar work is going on in Canada. She made it clear that closing plants doesn't mean GM isn't ready for growth. We have more products coming that we will build in the United States and provide opportunities, but we need to make sure that we keep the capacity utilization up at those other plants that we're still working to improve. Now, she didn't speak last night on what's next, but we do know that GM has invested heavily in electric vehicles that they bought a an auto driving a self driving vehicle startup company. Also, they have that car sharing program called Maven that they've been consistently expanding. Mary Barra was also seen recruiting at Harvard recently, so it looks like they are preparing to head in some new directions. Reporting live here outside of the Renaissance Center. I'm Jennifer Ann Wilson. Seven Action News.