GM will close 5 North America plants, another three elsewhere. GM claims it does not see a downturn but will Slash Nearly 15,000 Jobs anyway.
Four factories in the U.S. and one in Canada could be shuttered by the end of 2019 if the automaker and its unions don’t come up with an agreement to allocate more work to those facilities, GM said in a statement Monday.
Plants without products include assembly plants in Detroit; Lordstown, Ohio; and Oshawa, Ontario. Also affected are transmission factories in Warren, Mich., as well as Baltimore.
The salaried reductions amount to 15 percent of GM’s North American white-collar workforce of 54,000.
Eight Plants
The above articles only mentioned five plants.
The BBC says GM Will Shutter Eight Plants.
In February, the company said it would close one plant in South Korea. It also offered voluntary buyouts to up to 18,000 workers in October.
The firm said it would name the two additional international plants set for closure later.
No Downturn?!
GM doesn’t foresee an economic downturn and is making the cuts “to get in front of it while the company is strong and while the economy is strong,” CEO Mary Barra told reporters.
GM Translated
GM sees an economic downturn or at least a car downturn and did so back in April when it stopped reporting monthly car sales.
Say Goodbye to Sedans
GM will stop making the Chevrolet Cruze, the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, and large sedans including the Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac CT6.
18,000 Buyouts
Also consider GM to Idle Factories, Cut Thousands of North American Jobs.
GM said it would end production next year at three North American assembly plants and two smaller transmission factories, which combined employ more than 6,700 workers. Those include a factory in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM makes the Cruze; the Detroit-Hamtramck plant in the company’s hometown, where it makes the Volt and several large sedans; and a factory in Oshawa, Ontario, where such models as the Impala, the Cadillac XTS, the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra pickup are made.
GM, in October, said it would offer buyouts to about 18,000 salaried employees. Workers had until last week to decide whether to leave the company. GM wouldn’t disclose how many employees have accepted the buyout. The auto maker had about 180,000 employees world-wide at the end of 2017, including approximately 103,000 in the U.S., according to a regulatory filing.
The United Auto Workers union, which represents employees at GM’s U.S. factories, said in an emailed statement that it will challenge GM’s decision through legal, contractual, and collective bargaining means. The group called GM’s decision “callous” and said the auto maker is putting profits above using American labor.
Cars Aren’t Selling, So Stop Producing Them
The Auto Union is precisely one of GM’s problems. This is a business decision. It makes no sense to keep producing some car models at a loss.
The union drove GM into bankruptcy once before and would do so again.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
They might not get bailed next time, bought out instead? time to lean up. We are already seeing mergers/buyouts/bankruptcies. We see this more leading up to or during recessions, especially the last tech bust, easy pickings. They are still providing good middle class jobs, and to see any go hurts.
Will GM also shut down their Rubber rooms. YES, Google it,,, a place where GM sent workers (employees) who literally had nothing to do. Workers every day went to a warehouse and sat around doing NOTHING. Thank you Mr Union. And every time someone bought a GM product that was where some of their money went, and of course more went straight out the door to pensioners. ..
A POX on the whole thing…
They should fire their design team. Their cars and SUV’s look like shyte.
With interest rate rising, it is only a matter of time that these unprofitable companies with huge borrowing costs get in trouble. Sears was the first, many to follow.
In 1926 Henry Ford shut down 34 plants for over a half a year then came out with the Model A.
Don’t forget that, thanks to the tariffs, GM has to pay 25% more for steel and aluminum than it’s Japanese and German competitors. That’s just one more burden on them.
Deflation is a job killer.
Bloated, sham, debt ridden companies living off government bailouts and insider government relationships/deals are job killers.
See GE for an example.
But…but…the obama sham bailout was supposed to fix GM/GMAC.
And the American taxpayers lost over $10 billion in that sham bailout when the last share of government owned GM stock was finally sold in 2014.
$10 billion loss for about 8 extra years to keep the shame going and keep the UAW whole. And a destruction of 100 years of contract law.
And here we are again…
Remind me again who got the ball rolling on the GM bailout. You know, the guy that gave them TARP money all the way back in December 2008?
Partisan shills are pathetic. There’s plenty of bad actors on both teams in our glorious American political system.
You mean senator, candidate, president elect and president obama…the biggest TARP shrill of them all?
“Betting on you was the right thing to do… And that bet has paid off for America, because the American auto industry is back,”
— President obama, 2015
“Shrill”?
And Tengen, 2banana has no clue that dems & republicans are two sides of the same coin. Perhaps someday he’ll wake up.
I thought Warren Buffett was the biggest TARP shill. After all, he received more money from it than any other individual.
Why is it so difficult for you to admit both parties are awful? When W Bush (the guy who threw the first $13.4B of TARP money at GM) criticizes Trump, do you start to twitch uncontrollably?
Last time it took a century to drive GM into bankruptcy. This time it may take a little more than a decade. The world is moving faster.
Does this manuver save GM?
Good luck!
I just bought some puts on GM!
GM’s still in business? I had a Pontiac in the early ’90’s and swore I’d never buy another GM product. Since then I’ve only owned 3 hondas. I gave the first two away to my kids for high school. I don’t have any more kids to give my current one away to, so I’ll probably be buried in it.
I purchased a new Chevy Blazer in 1999. A lemon. Towed to the dealer for the first time at 177 miles. Traded it in just after the warranty expired in 2003. Purchased a new 4Runner that now is almost 16 years old and has only needed routine maintenance.
Might be a result of the mid terms. The dems are going to take over in 2020, which means electric vehicles will be pushed by our gov’t. Plus it may be easier to lay off employees now than after 2020 when big companies will be evil.
“The Dems are going to take over in 2020” – seriously? Based on what? Having speaker Pelosi fronting them for the next two years? I think there couldn’t be a better post-mid term configuration for Trump if he had tried.
Need more tariffs!
No profit, no jobs. How hard is that to understand?