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GM says it has 2,700 jobs for workers slated to be laid off

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
Published: December 14, 2018, 11:23am

DETROIT — General Motors’ plans to lay off 14,000 salaried and blue-collar workers might not be as bad as originally projected.

The company said Friday that 2,700 out of the 3,300 U.S. factory jobs slated for elimination will now be saved. Blue-collar workers will still lose jobs at four U.S. plants slated for closure next year, but most will be able to find employment at other GM factories where jobs are being added. Some would have to relocate.

GM still plans to lay off about 8,000 white-collar workers and another 2,600 factory workers in Canada.

In November, the company announced plans to end production at the U.S. factories and one in Ontario as part of a major restructuring designed to cut costs and divert resources to development and manufacturing of trucks, SUVs and electric and autonomous vehicles.

Legislators and President Donald Trump have hammered GM over the moves.

While some of the 3,300 U.S. factory workers will retire, most of the rest will be offered one of 2,700 jobs the company plans to add at factories where production will increase, GM announced on Friday. Some would have to move to other cities for jobs.

“Our focus remains on providing interested employees options to transition including job opportunities at other GM plants,” CEO Mary Barra said about the factory workers in a statement Friday.

That still leaves the majority of the cuts hitting white-collar workers. A small number will be able to transfer to other openings, and those who can’t will get help in finding work elsewhere, the company said.

Since the announcement, GM has faced withering criticism from Trump, legislators from affected states and the United Auto Workers union, largely over the plant closure plans. Trump has focused on a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that’s slated to stop making compact cars on March 1. He has promised to return factory jobs to the U.S. and Ohio, a key state in his 2020 re-election campaign.

6 car models to be cut

GM is cutting six car models as buyers have dramatically shifted their preferences to SUVs and trucks, which will account for about 70 percent of new-vehicle sales this year. Just six years ago, that number was 51 percent, so now GM has too many factories making cars.

The automaker’s attempt to close the factories still has to be negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, which has promised to fight back. Other factories that could go are assembly plants in Detroit and Oshawa, Ontario, and transmission plants in Warren, Mich., and near Baltimore.

Patrick Morrissey, a GM spokesman, said Friday’s job announcement had nothing to do with the criticism the company has been facing. The automaker, he said, knew some of the laid-off workers would be placed at other plants, but it didn’t know the number of jobs available until this week.

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