December 6, 2008
Yahoo Finance

General Motors Corp said on Friday it was cutting shifts at three North American assembly plants in response to declining demand in a move that will lay off almost 2,000 union-represented factory workers.

GM's November sales dropped 41 percent, a collapse the automaker said reflects the recessionary U.S. economy, tight credit and worries about whether GM will survive the crisis.

"We're shrinking because the market is shrinking," said GM spokesman Chris Lee.

The production cuts were announced as GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner testified before the U.S. Congress in an effort to convince lawmakers to extend up to $18 billion in emergency funding.

GM said it would eliminate third shifts at plants in Orion, Michigan; Oshawa, Ontario; and Lordstown, Ohio.

The Orion plant makes the Chevrolet Malibu and the Pontiac G6. The Oshawa plant makes the Chevrolet Impala. The Lordstown plant makes the Chevrolet Cobalt and the Pontiac G5.

The third shift will be eliminated in Orion and Lordstown during the week of February 2 and in Oshawa during the week of February 9, said GM spokesman Chris Lee.

In addition, GM will idle its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, during the week of January 19. That plant, which makes the Saturn Aura and the Malibu, had already been scheduled to be shut down for the first two weeks of January.

Workers in the Michigan, Ohio and Kansas, plants are represented by the United Auto Workers. The Canadian Auto Workers union represents workers in Oshawa.

Source: Yahoo Finance

 

Wow very interesting.

Sales dropped 41%

 

I dont like where this is going one bit....

 

Big 3 need to just murge and get it over with maybe then they will survive.

 

agreed... it's the best shot

 

I think that they should start driving cars instead of taking million dollar helicopters to bailout meetings. : )

 

what do they mean by 3rd shifts?

 

lolololol

A shift is 8 hours. There are 24 hours in a day. This means there is room for three shifts. One morning, one evening and one night.

 

k dont be dumb. they had those prior bailout meetings.

 

I would like to see the big 3 file for bankruptcy, so then they could get rid of the over paid and bullshit union workers and get to normal pay wages and benifits thats ******* the big 3 over. Chrysler needs to just be ground into the ground, there **** is junk and worthless, gm should buy them and kill the viper haha it would never happen. I am a union worker but the uaw just asks for to much and this is the result of there greed and need to suck gm ford and chrysler dry of money

Go to hell UAW!!!!!!!! Repulicans Rock!!! To hell with the Union lovin Democrats

 

The wages the workers are making is a problem BUT the bigger problem is the extra carrying costs the BIG 3 have to pay compared to import companies which started manufacturing in NA much later...around $2200 has to be added to the average GM car just to cover the carrying costs (pension/benefit payments to retired workers)...getting the union wage down to a competitive level will help, but the carrying costs will be there for quite a long time to come.

 

Eh..this is what they should have done all along. Why build cars when there isn't a demand for them?

 

Where yes this is true it doesn't help to go begging for money in a private jet!

 

This sucks....

Very true

 

How does it suck? GM is doing what they should have been doing all along.

Boo hoo for the workers... it's rough times right now.

 

Of note is the fact that, in June/July, GM said "we cannot make Cobalts fast enough for our dealers", which was true because gas was however much a gallon and the demand for small cars was higher. So it's not like they needed to do it all along because Lordstown running at full capacity was very much necessary at times this year.

 

Exactly... It sucks that the demand has dropped to this point

 

Meh that's not the point I was trying to make, obviously it sucks I mean an economic downturn = less cars sold... I was just saying that Lordstown earlier this year was subject to this statement from a GM exec: "Our dealers are asking for many more Cobalts than we can build."

 

its a recession

obama! lol

 

And if you're saying that because you're a GM fan, you should correct it to "this is somewhat good news", because GM paying people to produce extra vehicles they're not going to sell is what sucks.

 

Agreed

 

You Should Not Be Laying Off The Workers You Should Be Firing The Managment.all The American Companys Are Very Top Heavey.get Rid Off Ceo And Managment And Have The Workers Run The Company.


Respectfully Yours,
Gm Owner For Life
(i Own 5 Of Them)

 

I think GM should waste hours of their executives time driving umteen hours to a meeting, considering how much those guys get paid you want them working as much as possible not sitting in a car driving. It's not uncommon to have corporate jets fly around key employees.

 

All 3 companies just need to go Bankrupt that way they can get rid of that G*& D!@# Union garbage. They are overpaid and underworked...I mean I will certainly feel bad for all the Union workers that would lose their jobs but the economy...at least for the car industry...would only go up from there. The union is a good idea at heart...but in practice, it is dogshit.

 

Toyota isn't Union.........they pay their workers on pretty much union scale...


Unions aren't the problem, retirees are the problems... companies like Nissan, Toyota, etc. haven't been in this country long enough to be dealing with numerous retirees living longer than anyone thought, their time will come as well

the market as a whole sucks, GM sales were down 41%, which is bad... Nissan's were down 44%, Toyota will for the 1st time ever post a loss this year as well... guess what, the whole market sucks