Posted on 11/21/2005 5:34:36 AM PST by 12B
Breaking on Bloomberg and Reuters. GM will cut 30,000 jobs in massive restructuring. More....
URGENT
GM to close Spring Hill plant, 8 others and cut 30,000 jobs
Eds: ADDS 7 grafs with more locations of facilities, background; also moving nationally.
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. announced plans Monday to cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain facilities, including the plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand.
Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world’s largest automaker, announced the closures during a speech to employees from GM’s Detroit headquarters before the financial markets opened. Wagoner said GM also will close three service and parts operations facilities.
“The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work,” Wagoner said. “But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible.”
The Saturn plant in Spring Hill is one of Middle Tennessee’s largest employers, with about 5,700 workers.
GM said the plan is to achieve $7 billion in cost reductions on a running rate basis by the end of 2006 — $1 billion above its previously indicated target. The number of job cuts also was above earlier estimates. GM said earlier this year it planned to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008, mostly through attrition.
Besides Spring Hill, GM said the plants that will close are in Oklahoma City, Lansing, Mich., Doraville, Ga., and Ontario, Canada.
An engine facility in Flint, Mich., will close, along with a powertrain facility in Ontario and metal centers in Lansing and Pittsburgh.
Parts distribution centers in Ypsilanti, Mich., and Portland, Ore., also will close, as well as one other to be announced later. A shift also will be removed at a plant in Moraine, Ohio.
Wagoner said last month the automaker would announce plant closures by the end of this year to get its capacity in line with U.S. demand. GM plants currently run at 85 percent of their capacity, lower than North American plants run by its Asian rivals. The plant closings aren’t expected to be final until GM’s current contract with the United Auto Workers expires in 2007.
GM has been crippled by high labor, pension, health care and materials costs as well as by sagging demand for sport utility vehicles, its longtime cash cows, and by bloated plant capacity. Its market share has been eroded by competition from Asian automakers led by Toyota Motor Corp. GM lost nearly $4 billion in the first nine months of this year.
The automaker could be facing a strike at Delphi Corp., its biggest parts supplier, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. GM spun off Delphi in 1999 and could be liable for billions in pension costs for Delphi retirees.
GM also is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting errors.
Last week, after the automaker’s shares fell to their lowest level in 18 years, Wagoner sent an e-mail to employees saying the company has a turnaround strategy in place and has no plans to file for bankruptcy.
Except that you have to remember that the salary and benefits for these men in the UAW is around $100k. Not too many execs make $100 million dollars a year.
Wherever there's mischief, blame a 'Rat!
Amen. While I hate the unions, the real problem here is that GM is producing a line of shoddy, unattractive vehicles.
I mean, have you seen some of the crap that the Pontiac division is producing? No wonder this company is failing.
Michael Moore should donate millions to help laid off autoworkers cope.
They did realize it long ago. That's why they went after the government workers. In government work it's 1950 forever and Christmas all year long.
Cradle to the grave has always been a illusion.
And one more "THANKS Union Goons" to the guys who offered crappie workmanship for high wages and nonstop benefits. You've destroyed one more American Industry. Way to go, Walmart haters... You've given one more industry to the Japanese and Chinese.
This information is considered "newsworthy" and worth my time to read?
A company that has been systematically ruined by unions over the last 50+ years, is finally going down and this is NEWS?
Sheeeeeeeesh!
Envy...
UAW - No one to blame but themselves. Greedy son's of b..............'s
No, Smoke on the Water was about a pyro who burned down Frank Zappa's studio with a flare gun. It was on Lake Geneva.
Is Sacramento paying attention? I already know the answer to that.
A company producing and selling quality vehicles would be able to absorb the effects of the union parasite.
Don't think so..
And yet, the cream; the GTO is unadvertised. Bargain car with gobs of horses and great interior. Their loss may be my gain. The Camaro is 10 years old and that LS2 engine is sick.
it's just part of a benefit originally offered to attract workers after the war. Do you feel all insurance and/or all employer benefits packages should be eliminated? You touch on a good point, though, even today I meet too many people who still have that mindset - who think health insurance is an entitlement and are appalled when they have to pay more than a couple of bucks out of their own pocket.
I knew there was a fire, and it was on a lake. That's about it. LOL!
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