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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 27 November 2018

GM to lay off up to 14K workers, close as many as 5 plants

Continued from Front es from tariffs but she did Trump said he was being actions and threatened to breaking up a family.”
not directly link the layoffs tough on Barra. He said he fight them “through every Democratic Sen. Sherrod
The reduction includes to them. told the company that the legal, contractual and col- Brown said the move will
about 8,000 white-collar GM doesn’t foresee an U.S. has done a lot for GM lective bargaining avenue be disastrous for the region
employees, or 15 percent economic downturn and is and that if its cars aren’t open to our membership.” around Youngstown, Ohio,
of GM’s North American making the cuts “to get in selling, the company needs Bobbi Marsh, who has east of Cleveland, where
white-collar workforce. front of it while the compa- to produce ones that will. worked assembling the GM is one of the area’s few
Some will take buyouts ny is strong and while the At a rally near GM’s Lord- Chevrolet Cruze com- remaining industrial an-
while others will be laid off. economy is strong,” Barra stown, Ohio, plant last sum- pact car at the Ohio plant chors.
At the factories, around told reporters. mer, Trump told people not since 2008, said she can’t “GM received record tax
3,300 blue-collar workers Factories that could be to sell their homes because understand why the fac- breaks as a result of the
could lose jobs in the U.S. closed include assembly the jobs are “all coming tory might close given the GOP’s tax bill last year, and
and another 2,600 in Can- plants in Detroit and Os- back.” Most of the facto- strong economy. has eliminated jobs instead
ada, but some U.S. work- hawa, Ontario, and Lord- ries to be affected by GM’s She now faces an un- of using that tax windfall to
ers could transfer to truck stown, Ohio, as well as restructuring build cars that certain future, not know- invest in American work-
or SUV factories that are transmission plants in War- will not be sold in the U.S. ing whether the plant will ers,” he said in a statement.
increasing production. The ren, Michigan, and near after next year. close for good or if there’s Many of those who will lose
cuts mark GM’s first major Baltimore. They could close or they a chance it could find an- jobs are now working on
downsizing since shedding The announcement wor- could get different vehicles other use. conventional cars with in-
thousands of jobs in the ried GM workers who could to build. “Everything is up in the air,” ternal combustion engines.
Great Recession. lose their jobs. Their futures will be part of she said. Barra said the industry is
The company also said it “I don’t know how I’m go- contract talks with the Unit- “I don’t want to give up changing rapidly and mov-
will stop operating two ad- ing to feed my family,” ed Auto Workers union next hope for this facility and ing toward electric propul-
ditional factories outside Matt Smith, a worker at the year. these people. I spend more sion, autonomous vehicles
North America by the end Ontario factory, said Mon- The Detroit-based union has time around them than my and ride-sharing, and GM
of next year, in addition to day outside the plant’s already condemned GM’s own family. It would be like must adjust.q
a previously announced south gate, where workers
plant closure in Gunsan, blocked trucks from enter-
South Korea. ing or leaving. “It’s hard. It’s
General Motors Co.’s pre- horrible.”
emptive strike to get leaner Smith’s wife also works at
before the next downturn the plant. The couple has
likely will be followed by an 11-month-old at home.
Ford Motor Co., which has Workers at the Ontario
said it is restructuring and plant walked off the job
will lay off an unspecified Monday but were expect-
number of white-collar ed to return Tuesday.
workers. Toyota Motor After the morning an-
Corp. also has discussed nouncement, Barra was
cutting costs, even though to head for Washington
it’s building a new assem- to speak with White House
bly plant in Alabama. economic adviser Larry
GM isn’t the first to aban- Kudlow in what was de-
don much of the car mar- scribed as a previously
ket. Fiat Chrysler Automo- scheduled meeting, ac-
biles got out of small and cording to a White House
midsize cars two years ago, official who spoke on con-
while Ford announced dition of anonymity be-
plans to shed all cars but cause the official was not
the Mustang sports car authorized to discuss the
in the U.S. in the coming meeting publicly.
years. President Donald Trump,
The layoffs come amid the who has made bringing
backdrop of a trade wars back auto jobs a big part
between the U.S., China of his appeal to Ohio and
and Europe that likely will other Great Lakes states
lead to higher prices for im- that are crucial to his re-
ported vehicles and those election, said his adminis-
exported from the U.S. GM tration and lawmakers are
CEO Mary Barra said the exerting “a lot of pressure”
company faces challeng- on GM.