GM to cut 21,000 jobs, scrap Pontiac brand

General Motors Corp. will cut an additional 7,000 to 8,000 factory jobs in the United States, kill the Pontiac brand and shed 2,600 dealers by 2010 under a revised business plan developed with the Obama administration and announced today.

The new job cuts bring the total number of hourly jobs eliminated under GM’s plan to 21,000. GM said additional cuts among salaried workers would be expected, but did not give a specific target.

Source: Detroit Free Press

Buyouts at GM open door for hiring at lower wages

The 7,631 United Auto Workers who accepted early retirement and buyout offers this week from General Motors Corp. — more than 53 percent of whom work in Michigan — will make room for laid off workers to reclaim their jobs.

But GM likely will not be able to hire lesser-paid workers until the worst sales market in 27 years improves.

“We certainly hope to be able to realize some of that (savings) going forward, but clearly the evaporation in sales put a hold on that,” GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said. “When the dust settles, we’ll still have people laid off, but we’ll be able to bring a lot of laid off people back to work.”

Source: The Detroit News

GM lays off 160 white-collar workers at Warren

General Motors Corp. began white-collar layoffs today, telling about 160 workers at the Warren Technical Center that their last day will be April 1.

The move is just the beginning of GM’s plans to cut 3,400 salaried jobs in the United States this year. Worldwide, GM plans to cut 47,000 workers by the end of the year.

Source: Detroit Free Press

GM to cut 47,000 jobs, close five more plants

General Motors Corp. plans to cut its work force by 47,000 this year and close five more U.S. plants under a viability plan it submitted to the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday as part of its effort to land between $9 billion and $12 billion more in federal loans.

The five plants the struggling automaker plans to close are in addition to the nine plants it previously said it planned to shutter.

GM also plans to reduce its dealerships from 6,246 in 2008 to 4,700 by 2012, and to 4,100 by 2014. Most of this reduction will take place in metro and suburban markets, GM said.

Source: Dayton Business Journal

GM to cut 2nd shift at Lordstown plant

General Motors Corp. plans to cut one of the two remaining shifts at its plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in April, a person briefed on the plans said Friday. The person, who asked not to be identified because the plans have not been finalized, said workers have been told some of them will be indefinitely laid off, and an official announcement could come as soon as Monday.

Production cuts at Lordstown likely are a sign that further cuts could be coming at other GM factories, since Lordstown stamps parts for and assembles the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5, two of GM’s least expensive and most fuel-efficient vehicles that have sold well in the down economy.

Source: The Canadian Press

GM to Cut Output at Four Factories; 2,000 Affected

According to Bloomberg: “General Motors Corp., running out of cash and combating a 22 percent plunge in U.S. sales this year, said it’s cutting production at four North American car plants in 2009, affecting 2,000 jobs.

The automaker will eliminate the third shift at its factories in Lordstown, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Orion Township, Michigan, in February, said Chris Lee, a GM spokesman. GM will also suspend production for a week at the Chevrolet Malibu plant in Fairfax, Kansas.”