Thousands of GM salaried workers to lose jobs in 2019
By
Jerry White
21 November 2018
Thousands of salaried employees at General Motors in the US and Canada will be thrown out of their jobs at the beginning of 2019 as the Detroit-based automaker accelerates its cost-cutting campaign. The white-collar job cuts, which are also coming at Ford, are part of an expected blood-letting of salaried and hourly jobs amid declining sales worldwide and telltale signs of an impending restructuring of the global auto industry.
GM sources told the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News that at least 3,000 employees would be terminated because not enough had agreed to “voluntary buyout” offers sent out last month. The company is targeting 17,700 salaried workers with at least 12 years’ experience or more than a third of its white-collar workforce in North America.
According to internal sources who spoke to the Detroit media outlets, GM hoped to get at least 7,000 white-collar workers to sign up for the buyout offer by noon Monday, but managers told employees late last week that only 4,000 had done so. “That means 3,000 or more salaried workers in North America could be terminated starting in January if the automaker in fact opts for forced job cuts, which it has said it would consider if buyouts fell short,” the Free Press wrote.
GM managers held staff meetings last Thursday and Friday to ratchet up pressure on salaried workers to take the deals, which include six months’ of pay and health care coverage. It is unlikely many more will opt to do so since this is exactly the same severance package for a GM employee with 12 years or more seniority who is involuntarily terminated.
According to one source who spoke to the Free Press, “GM will complete…