General Motors Layoffs Reduced

Anthony Fontanelle
August 31, 2007

Detroit automaker General Motors is facing one of the toughest times in its history as its share in the United States auto market continues to decline. To counter this decline in profit, the automaker has been implementing cost-reduction actions which include closing down of plants, reducing shifts on some facilities and reducing the company's workforce. Recently though, the number of workers that need to be slashed because of the number of early retirees has increased.

This is the case at General Motors of Canada's Windsor Transmission assembly facility. Aside from the increased number of early retirees, Canadian Auto Workers' president Buzz Hargrove said that the increased auto sale in Canada also plays a key role in reducing the number of workers that needs to be slashed. Earlier this year, the Detroit can be remembered to have announced that they will lay off about 375 employees from the assembly facility. The reason cited by General Motors is the reduced demand for vehicles and the changing sales patterns.

That announcement was made last March. Two months after that announcement though, the assembly facility received temporary work since the demand for General Motors vehicles increased. The transmission built at the said assembly facility plays a key role in the manufacturing of General Motors vehicles just like the importance of Saturn oil filters on Saturn vehicles. Due to the additional work given to the assembly plant, the lay off was put on hold much to the relief of many workers.

That development was complemented by the retirement packages offered by the automaker to its workers. According to the Windsor Star, Hargrove said that the number of workers that accepted the retirement packages increased which only means that General Motors is offering a good deal to its workers. The retirement package though is seen as a good choice since instead of risking being slashed, workers would opt for the package offered by the automaker. Hargrove said that the lay off has been "cut to something less than 75 people."

The president of the CAW said that about 220 people have already accepted the retirement incentive package. The automaker recently informed the union as to the status of the lay off. Although there would still be a lot of people that will be laid off. The union though is doing its best to protect its members and with the automaker showing some kind of resurgence especially with their new hybrid vehicles, it is not out of the question that the automaker will not reduce its workforce at the said facility.

According to the Windsor Star, the number of workers that were originally scheduled to be laid off by the Detroit automaker numbered 288 production workers and about 87 skilled workers. This shows that the number of jobs saved by the increased demand for the four-speed automatic transmission that the plant produces has saved a lot of jobs. The said facility produces transmissions for vehicles such as the Chevy Cobalt, Pontiac G5, the Chevy Malibu, Saturn Vue and the Saturn Aura among others. With regards to General Motors' reaction to Hargrove's announcement, no comment has yet been made.

Source:  Amazines.com