Nearly 600 employees of the new Lear manufacturing facility in Flint agreed join the UAW on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to bring Lear’s exceptional workers into the UAW family, and are excited about the prospect of new jobs available in Flint,” said Gary Jones, president of the UAW. “The UAW represents over 400,000 members and has welcomed over 10,000 new members since August. We welcome these workers and the opportunity to be a part of Flint’s rebirth. We look forward to getting down to business, bargaining great contracts, and helping our new members make a positive impact on the community.”

The Lear UAW employees will be the represented by Local 659 in Flint. A card check certification presentation — a method for employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms — was held on Thursday, May 2 by Genesee County Sheriff Bob Pickell.

Lear Corporation, a leading global supplier of automotive seating and electrical systems, opened the new manufacturing seating facility in Flint in August 2018. The plant is on 30 acres of what used to be known as Buick City.

The world-class 156,000-square-foot manufacturing plant brings more than 400 new Lear jobs to the Flint area, with plans to employ 600 team members at the facility by the end of 2019. The facility will build all front and rear seats for the General Motors Flint Assembly plant and the center console seats for the General Motors Fort Wayne plant in Indiana.

Lear’s Flint plant is the first major automotive supplier manufacturing facility constructed in Flint in more than 30 years.