GM Begins Axing 4,000 Salaried Workers

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Last Friday’s whisperings of a “Black Monday” panned out, with General Motors announcing the elimination of roughly 4,000 salaried workers — part of a preexisting pledge to reduce its North American workforce by 15 percent.

Pink slips are in the process of being handed out, an unwanted delivery that should take two weeks to complete. In total, GM hopes to cull 8,000 salaried workers and reduce its executive ranks by 25 percent.

Part of the plan to slim down its 54,000-strong North American workforce by 15,000 employees includes the shuttering of five plants, three of which crank out doomed GM car models.

According to sources who spoke to Reuters, Monday’s targets include hundreds of positions at its information technology centers in Texas, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan. As well, more than 1,000 jobs are said to be lost at GM’s Warren, Michigan Tech Center. The job cuts were revealed via mass layoff notices sent to state agencies.

In correspondence with Reuters, GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said, “These actions are necessary to secure the future of the company, including preserving thousands of jobs in the U.S. and globally. We are taking action now while the overall economy and job market are strong, increasing the ability of impacted employees to continue to advance in their careers, should they choose to do so.”

This round of cuts comes two months after the automaker eliminated 1,500 contract workers. Some 2,300 salaried workers have already accepted a voluntary buyout, Morrissey said.

As for Canadian layoffs, those are largely complete, CBC reports.

While the Canadian Oshawa Assembly plant is doomed, the fate of Ohio’s Lordstown Assembly and Michigan’s Detroit-Hamtramck facility will be the subject of much debate and advocacy as UAW bargaining talks get started this summer. From these plants pour forth the Chevrolet Cruze, Volt, and Impala, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS and CT6. Production should cease by the end of the year.

GM claims it plans to keep the CT6 on dealer lots, either by shipping the sedan from China or, ideally, moving production to an alternate U.S. plant.

[Image: General Motors]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Jeff S Jeff S on Feb 05, 2019

    @highdesertcat--You are probably right the Government will not let GM fail. GM has a few vehicles worth saving such as the Tahoe, Suburban, and Corvette but the plant equipment would be a good buy for pennies on the dollar. I don't think Barra and the board are through with the cutting and downsizing. Buick should be a Chinese specific brand. GM needs to get rid of the designers that designed the new Silverado such an ugly truck and much too important a product for GM to mess up. GM should also get rid of Daewoo they don't need it anymore and it is a drain on GM.

    • Highdesertcat Highdesertcat on Feb 05, 2019

      " I don’t think Barra and the board are through with the cutting and downsizing. " I agree. The reality is here. These chickens have come home to roost. But at least a 1000 or so GM workers have been offered jobs in other plants for now.

  • TheEndlessEnigma TheEndlessEnigma on Feb 06, 2019

    Looks like a disproportionate number of cuts are focused on IT and R&D. That makes sense. As long as the CEO looks good that's all that matters.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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