GM ups job cut target to 30,000 hourly jobs - Nov. 21, 2005

GM to Cut 30,000 Jobs - Shut 9 Plants
Ford to cut 4,000 Jobs

Here is CNN's rundown of the GM cuts.

The plants being closed include Oklahoma City, and the Lansing, Mich., Craft Centre in 2006, and Doraville, Ga., in 2008.

In addition, some shifts will be eliminated at three other assembly plants. In addition Line 1 at Spring Hill, Tenn. and Oshawa, Ontario, Car Plant No. 2, will also shut, although assembly plants on the same property as those two lines will continue to operate. But GM counts the facilities being closed there as separate assembly plants.

One shift in Moraine, Ohio, will also be eliminated in 2006.

GM also said it will shut eight other facilities, including two stamping plants in Lansing, Mich. in 2006 and Pittsburgh in 2007, along with two powertrain plants, in St. Catharines, Ontario, and Flint, Mich., in 2008. And the company will shut three parts facilities in Portland, Ore., Ypsilanti, Mich and St. Louis by 2007, although St. Louis will be converted to a collision center. There will be one more parts facility closing, with its identity yet to be determined.


Here are some of my quick thoughts on the cuts. Some news reports state flat-out that the Saturn plant in Spring Hill Tennessee will be shut down. According to CNN, one line will be shut and one line will remain open. The Saturn plant is one of the newest in the GM inventory. Also, the Oklahoma City factory had been substantially rebuilt after a direct hit by a tornado just a few years ago. Age of facility apparently wasn't a big consideration in determining what plant to shut down. Also, the cuts appear to be disproportionately in GM's southern region. This means that Dixie is almost exclusively going to be the land of the transplants for some time. Your typical southern NASCAR fan is going to be far more likely to work for Toyota,Hyundai, Honda, or Nissan than GM Ford or Chrysler. If Joe Nascar works for Daimler-Chrysler, he's likely to be a non-unionized Mercedes worker. There will be even less of a union presence in the soutern states than there was before.


I'm a little surprised that some of these plants will be shut down before the UAW collective bargaining agreement expires in 2007.

I'm going to try to add more cogent thoughts to this later. I just wanted to get something down in a timely fashion.


Fellow Afscme 3357 members, I urge each of you to spend some time during the winter shut-down to come up with a personal contingency plan and do one thing toward that plan. This is real. This is not a drill.

Thanks to Ken W. for the link.


GM ups job cut target to 30,000 hourly jobs - Nov. 21, 2005

Ford cuts 4000