“The UAW smooths everything out for the company”
One week to GM layoffs in Detroit
By
Shannon Jones
23 February 2017
With the scheduled layoff of some 1,300 workers at the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant a little over one week away, there are continuing signs the auto sales boom of the last six years is ending, with the corresponding threat of a new round of auto job cuts.
The recent and impending cuts at GM plants in Michigan and Ohio are beginning to have a broader impact, as auto parts suppliers begin to retrench.
Yanfeng Global Automotive Interiors said its plant outside of Lansing, Michigan will close later this year. The plant, formerly part of Johnson Controls, employs 275. The company supplies dashboards, door panels and consoles to GM plants in Lansing. On January 20, GM laid off some 800 workers at its Lansing Grand River plant.
Another company, Penske Vehicle Services, says it may layoff 166 employees at seven locations in Michigan due to the loss of a contract with GM. The company provides fleet transportation services and GM is cutting back on its sales of vehicles for commercial use, such as rental companies, due to a growing inventory of used cars which is depressing new car prices.
GM sales fell 3.8 percent in January as the company worked to reduce inventories and cut back on incentives, which cut into profit margins. Overall vehicle sales are expected to decline in 2017 from the 2016 record of 17.55 million vehicles.
Fiat Chrysler sales fell 11 percent in January as the company cut its fleet sales, and sales by Ford fell 0.6 percent. The sales of the Fiat Chrysler Jeep Cherokee, built in Toledo, Ohio, were particularly weak, down 25 percent from levels a year earlier. Auto sales in China also fell in January, the first decline in…