General Motors to close up to five factories, cut nearly 15,000 jobs

[toyotafan]

Hate to see that many people out of work, just before Christmas too. Really puts a damper on the holidays when so many hard working men and women have been put on notice they'll be looking for a new job or being offered a transfer to a new plant.

GM Layoffs & Plant Closings 2018

• 14,700 GM lay offs. Both factory (6,660) and white collar workers (8,100).
• Total GM workforce will be reduced 15%, which is currently 54,000 employees.
• Five GM plants are up for possible closure.
• All in an effort to restructure, cut costs and focus on autonomous and electric vehicles.
• Many employees will take buy-outs, otherwise they'll be laid off.
• Most everyone are part of factories that are making vehicles that will end after next year.
• Factory worker layoffs may be split at 3,000 in Canada and 3,600 in the US.
• Good news is that Truck & SUV plants are increasing output, so some workers may be able to transfer.

While GM says that they don't see a future economic downturn, they are making these cuts "to get in front of it while the company is strong and while the economy is strong," CEO Mary Barra told reporters when the announcement was made.

 

[tbplus10]

GM has been talking about this for a few weeks now. They've stated they "don't see an economic downturn" but they appear to be looking forward. This is a change in operations for any car manufacturer, they normally wait until their in trouble to react.
Yes sad for the people caught up, but sometimes ya gotta sacrifice a few to save the masses.
Its a weird time for car manufacturers, truck sales are at an all time best, but you can see them hedging for the bottom to drop out. Look at Chrysler, they sent trucks to their own newly developed brand, Ram, then focused cars on a trimmed down at line.
Ford is reputed to have some behind the scenes things going on that will change their truck operations.
Toyota and Nissan, who knows, Japan controls their operations close and you'll find out their direction about 15 minutes after they decide to let you.

 

[toyotafan]

With gas at $1.95 i barely feel the pain at the pump when i fil up. I do get the change in direction, at some point we will run out of easy oil and other energy sources will have to be used. Im all for that progress, but 15% was a bit shocking.

Then again, after 911 i was with a company in fort worth that cut over 20% in a single day.

 

[rickc5]

I was a software development manager at a hi-tech computer company in the 80s and 90s. We built storage peripherals for large IBM main frame computers. Our annual budget cycle started in September and usually ended in late November. At that time, we knew exactly whether a layoff would be needed before year-end. More years than not, we laid people off. It really sucked--I hated it. My point is that the majority of big companies do their budget calculations in the 4th quarter, and layoffs come in December. The timing is always terrible.