Amid an ever-slumping auto market, General Motors announced today that it will be making production cuts at three North American production facilities. The production cuts will result in the elimination of nearly 2,000 UAW workers.
Following a November sales drop of 41 percent, GM will be cutting production at its Orion, Michigan; Oshawa, Ontario; and Lordstown, Ohio car plants.
“We’re shrinking because the market is shrinking,” GM spokesman Chris Lee told Automotive News.
GM’s Orion plant produces the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6. The Oshawa car facility produces the Chevy Impala. GM’s Lordstown plant – which actually added an additional line last summer – produces the company’s Pontiac G5 and Chevy Cobalt.
GM will be eliminating a third shift at all three plants, with Orion’s and Lordstown’s cuts coming on the week of February 2nd and Oshawa’s during the week of February 9th.
In addition to the aforementioned cuts, GM will also idle its Fairfax assembly plant – which produces the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura – during the week of January 19th, following an already scheduled two week shutdown during the beginning of the month.
In all, the cuts will result in about 2,000 UAW layoffs.
12/05, 12:00 PM
posted by:
Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3
All this will lead and has led to divesting of assets. Having dealt with divesting at a high level I can say that it is a wretched task as you decide which assets to sell and deal with your conscience as employees’ very livelihood is at stake. I hope that upper-exec has looked into the eyes of the employees they are about layoff as no upper-exec is worth their salt if they have not.
12/05, 12:06 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
I don’t believe any of the execs are worth a d@mn anyways.
Fire ‘em all.
12/05, 12:16 PM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
What a way to put the pressure on the house…
“we are sending the 2,000 UAW worker to a job bank so they can still get 95% of there pay”
GOOD JOB GM…
12/05, 12:28 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
Does this look like a move towards unloading Saturn and Pontiac to anyone else?
12/05, 12:35 PM
posted by:
inline6
RaineMan,
Mulally and Wagoner are GREAT CEOs. Nardelli not so much.
But no, it doesn’t look like a move toward unloading Pontiac/Saturn. The G5 is responsible for about 12% of Cobalt sales, and both are made at Lordstown. They’re slowing production on BOTH. Oshawa only builds the Impala/LaCrosse. The Grand Prix went out of production at Oshawa about 6 months ago. And Fairfax builds the Aura AND the Malibu. The Pontiac and Saturn models come down the same line as the Chevys. Fewer of all of them will get built.
They’re probably cutting 2000 jobs, as they say, because demand is shrinking, and they need to control their dealer inventories after double-digit sales declines in the last 3 mos.
Keep in mind, though, that Lordstown, Fairfax, and Oshawa are 3-shift plants running at (or close to) capacity. So removing the 3rd shift isn’t exactly disasterous.
12/05, 1:06 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
Here’s the finger to you, Gettlefinger.
12/05, 3:42 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
Inline6… those 12% of people would just buy the Cobalt if the G5 didn’t exist. The only difference between the two is the grille and the tail lights.
GM is merely competing with itself for market share.
12/05, 4:32 PM
posted by:
Borat
yarddog82abn, I totally agree with you
12/05, 4:57 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
My question is why aren’t the Canadians clamoring for relif for the “Little 3″? They will be hurt by this too.
12/05, 10:41 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
RaineMan, our minority government and the three opposition parties have been very, very bad the last two weeks. So bad that our Governor General (the Queen’s representative) had to send them to their rooms without beer or poutine until I believe January 25th. To make a long story short, the three opposition parties (Liberal, New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois) attempted to band together and overthrow the ruling Conservatives because they didn’t like their proposed budget. The Governor General had to decide whether to let the proposed coalition take power or dissolve parliament in order to let the Conservatives table a new budget. She chose the latter. What does this have to do with things automotive you ask? Essentially it means nothing will be decided until after January 25th. Sorry about this. I suppose it just goes to prove it’s possible to elect the same level of incompetence with a mere 1/10th of the population. Actually less since barely 50% of us bothered to vote in the first place.
12/06, 12:35 AM
posted by:
teahead
How about Washingotn do something about the massive trade inbalance, like more quotas on imports if the other countries do not allow more imports of US cars?
12/06, 7:17 AM
posted by:
swamprat
Wagoner is a crappy CEO. GM has been a crappy and arrogant company. Ford’s in that group as well. Chrysler is just plain crappy. With that said, GM and Ford to a lesser extent are making great automobiles that I would buy if gas would stay at say 2-3 bucks. The only thing that I can’t stand about GM is that they won’t let their customers choose whether or not to have an intrusive device like OnStar installed in their cars.
The other thing is that these manufacturers should not really be laying off any more people. THEY SHOULD CUT RETIREE HEALTHCARE RIGHT NOW! Why in hell pay for healthcare for non productive former employees. The only exceptions should be for people with serious illnesses who have no other place to go. If healthcare is costing the Big 3 $1500-2000 per car, they need to slash that expense. The average wage at a GM plant is about $28 an hour. The average wage at a Japanese plant is roughly the same, maybe a little less due to the fact that they are in hellholes like Alabama or Mississippi.
The point is, if you are inconstant fear of losing your job, day in and day out, you won’t perform as well and will not be able to develop the great cars that the public demands.