[ad_1]
General Motors announced Monday that it plans to close five plants in North America and to cut more than 14,000 collar and payroll jobs in order to reduce costs.
This action follows similar measures adopted by Ford Motor. slowing sales and changing consumer tastes, due in part to low prices for gasoline.
The five GMO plants will shut down production next year, resulting in the layoff of 3,300 production workers in the United States and about 3,000 in Canada. The company also plans to reduce its workforce by 8,000.
"We are taking this step now, while society and the economy are strong to stay ahead of the curve. market conditions, "said Mary T. Barra, General Manager of GM. said during a conference call.
The factories include three automobile factories: one in Lordstown, Ohio, which manufactures the compact Chevrolet Cruze; the Detroit-Hamtramck factory, where the Chevrolet Volt, Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac CT6 are produced; and a plant in Oshawa, Ontario, which mainly manufactures the Chevrolet Impala. In addition, the company will discontinue operations at Baltimore's transportation facilities and Warren, Michigan.
Some of the affected mills could resume production, depending on the results of the contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union next year. 19659002] Rumors of budget cuts in Canada surfaced over the weekend. Less than an hour after GM's announcement, the workers exited the Oshawa plant in heavy rain. By waving red flags and wearing ponchos bearing the logo of their union, Unifor, they began to block the entrance of the trucks.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he had expressed his "deep disappointment" about Ms. Barra's closure. He added that the government is considering measures to help the unemployed G.M. workers "get back on their feet".
The cuts also stoked the political fire in the United States, where President Trump promised early in his tenure to increase manufacturing jobs and put pressure on the company. 39 industry so that it does not transfer work to Mexico and abroad. Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said, "I am deeply frustrated with General Motors' decision to close down its Lordstown plant and disappointed with the way the workers who worked there have been treated while at work. along this process. "
GM's decision" will not go unnoticed. "The closure of US factories while increasing production in China and Mexico is" profoundly detrimental to our hand-in-hand. " American work, "said Terry Dittes, Vice President of the union responsible for negotiations with GM.
But investors have welcomed this news, bringing the company's shares to their highest level since July (+ 5%).
In recent years, with gasoline prices remaining low, consumers have been turning to larger, more spacious vehicles such as pickup trucks and sports vehicles. commercial vehicles. The demand for small and medium cars has plummeted. Earlier this year, Ford announced it would stop making sedans for the North American market and announced a reduction in its workforce.
The companies also paid the price of the tariff battle triggered by Mr. Trump. In June GM reduced its earnings outlook for the year because steel prices pushed up costs. The company does not import a lot of steel in the United States, but the increased demand for steel in the domestic market has pushed up prices.
Ms. Barra said G.M would set aside up to $ 2 billion in cash to pay for the job cuts and file a cashless lawsuit against its pre-tax profit of about $ 1.8 billion. Expenses will affect the fourth quarter results of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.
Until last month, GM offered severance benefits to encourage salaried employees in North America to leave the company. business. In January, the company plans to remove white-collar jobs on an involuntary basis. Between the two actions, it aims to eliminate 8,000 salaried jobs, or about 15% of its employees in North America.
is preparing to negotiate new contracts with GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler next year. In recent years, the union has agreed to make concessions in return for the manufacturers' promise to keep factories operating.
The auto industry has globally created nearly 350,000 additional jobs since the depths of the Great Recession, which has the bulk of this growth under President Barack Obama. But the industry still employs tens of thousands of people less than before the crisis and hundreds of thousands less than in 2000.
About 970,000 Americans were working in the business sector. Car in the United States in October, an increase of 12,800 since the term of Mr. Trump. in January 2017. Most of this growth, however, occurred in one sector of the industry, namely recreational vehicle manufacturers and trailers. Automotive parts manufacturers added about 2,000 jobs during this period. But until October, automakers like G.M. Mr. Trump had cut about 7,000 jobs, according to government figures. (These figures do not include the hundreds of thousands of workers employed by car dealerships, repair shops and related industries.)
Cuts in Canada were particularly sensitive because of work and history.
gm. Canada's head office is located in Oshawa, an industrial city located east of Toronto, where it was founded in 1907 by a licensed car constructor for Chevrolet designs. Before a series of cuts began in the 1980s, its factories and engineering centers in Oshawa employed more than 40,000 people.
gm. was the largest vehicle manufacturer in Canada until Toyota eclipsed it last year. An overwhelming majority of cars and trucks manufactured in this country are exported to the United States.
Although Canada and the Province of Ontario took part in GM's rescue after filing for bankruptcy nearly ten years ago and after many times helping to fund improvements at the plant In Oshawa, Canadian political leaders had little hope of being able to reverse the company's decision. Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, said a finance minister. A manager had told him: "The ship has already left the wharf."
The future of the plant appeared to be threatened in the past. But optimism about his future was restored in 2016 when G.M. invested $ 554 million in the deal as part of the settlement of his contract with Unifor. Monday, we found very little that feeling.
"The last thing we want to do is leave the waiting line, we really do not want to do it," said Eva McKeen, an inspector of the workshop. painting of the factory. . "We just want G.M to work with us, I do not know. As you get older, knowing that you do not have a job is heartbreaking.
General Motors also said Monday that production of two unspecified factories outside North America would be halted by the end of the year. next year.
Source link
