Mar 24, 2009 11:48 am US/Pacific
GM Begins White-Collar Layoffs With 160 Pink Slips
DETROIT (AP) ―
-
-
Rick Wagoner, General Motors Chairman and CEO, speaks to the media after the 2008 Annual Shareholders meeting at the Hotel DuPont o June 3, 2008, in Wilmington, Del.
William Thomas Cain/Getty Images
Related Stories
-
Auto Suppliers To Get $5 Billion Lifeline
(3/19/2009)
-
GM Says Restructuring Plan Is Working
(3/12/2009)
-
Analysis: Economic Impact If GM Went Bankrupt
(3/10/2009)
-
Auditors Question GM's Viability
(3/5/2009)
-
GM Posts Record $9.6 Billion Loss In 4Q
(2/26/2009)
-
Saab Files For Bankruptcy, Moves To Split From GM
(2/20/2009)
-
On The Auto Chopping Block: Saturn, Hummer, Saab
(2/19/2009)
-
Source: GM, UAW, Chrysler Reach Tentative Deal
(2/18/2009)
-
Goodyear To Cut 5,000 Jobs
(2/18/2009)
-
GM Slashing 10,000 Jobs, Cutting Worker Pay
(2/10/2009)
-
Report: GM May Take Back Some Delphi Factories
(2/9/2009)
-
Auto Parts Suppliers Talking With Treasury
(2/5/2009)
-
GM Seeks $30B In Aid, Plans To Cut 47,000 Jobs
(2/18/2009)
-
Obama To Create Auto Industry Panel
(2/16/2009)
-
UAW, Big 3 Labor Talks Hit Bump Ahead Of Deadline
(2/15/2009)
Dreaded white-collar job cuts at General Motors Corp. started Tuesday as the wounded automaker began to deliver on promises to the government to shrink its work force so it can be profitable at lower sales levels.
On Tuesday morning, GM told 160 people at its manufacturing engineering operations in Warren, Mich., that they would be laid off as of April 1, spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.
It's the beginning of 3,400 salaried layoffs in the U.S. and part of the 47,000 job cuts that GM wants to accomplish worldwide by the end of the year, Wilkinson said.
"It will impact every area of the business. Some of those will be through normal attrition, but there will be a significant number of involuntary separations coming from now through the early part of May," Wilkinson said.
Tuesday's cuts were mainly engineers, coming as GM's North American manufacturing footprint shrinks to match reduced sales and market share.
The company has announced the closure of nine assembly, parts stamping and powertrain factories since the end of 2005, and it plans to close five more factories.
"These are good capable people," Wilkinson said of those being laid off. "The reductions are just necessary to implement the viability plan and restructure the business to make it self-sustaining."
GM is living on $13.4 billion in government loans and has requested another $16.6 billion to weather the worst auto sales downturn in 27 years.
Chrysler LLC also is taking government loans. The company has received $4 billion so far and wants another $5 billion.
Both companies were required to submit restructuring plans to the Treasury Department on Feb. 17 showing how they can become viable and repay the loans. The deadline for finalizing the plan is a week away, on March 31.
Besides the salaried job cuts, GM plans to cut 18,000 more U.S. blue-collar workers by the end of the year. Tuesday is the deadline for hourly workers to accept buyout and early retirement offers.
GM, which now employs 243,000 people across the globe, will give roughly two weeks of severance pay to employees for each year they have worked. That includes base salary plus the company's share of most benefits.
The automaker has 29,650 salaried employees 62,400 blue-collar workers in the U.S.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments