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By Scott McDonald
Deputy Night Editor
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General Motors Co. will lay off approximately 4,250 salaried workers over the next several weeks in a workforce reduction plan starting Monday. The layoffs are part of an overall process that also idling five plants and saving $2.5 billion in 2019 and saving a total of $6 billion by 2020.
In all, GM will cut about 8,0009 jobs, which includes salaried and contract workers. The company also has plans to trim its international executive workforce by 25 percent.
"We are not confirming timing," GM told The Detroit News. "Our employees are our priority, and we will communicate with them first."
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GM didn't say which departments would get cut first, nor did it say in which order the cuts would happen. The plants expected to close in the next few weeks are Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Warren Transmission, Baltimore Operations and the Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio.
The company offered buyouts last October to employees who would voluntary separate the country, and 2,250 of them took the separation package that was offered to 18,000 workers. GM subsequently let go of 1,500 contract workers by year's end, which meant the next move was involuntary separations, or this new wave of layoffs.
Automotive News first reported the pending "Black Monday" layoffs, saying employees could be let go as early as 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 4 and continue on a "rolling basis" throughout the day and following weeks until the workforce reduction is complete.
The layoffs will begin despite GM announcing fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, in which the company is expected to show earnings being higher and exceeding $4 billion in cash flow. Though investors seem happy, those on Wall Street aren't flinching.
"Many investors see GM as a 'self help story' that can cut costs faster than the pace of industry headwinds, leaving margins and cash flow supportive of strong cash flow and return of capital. We do not subscribe to this view," Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas said in the Detroit Press. "We believe cost savings will be given back to the consumer in price …, something with which this industry has numerous precedents."
GM is already moving toward more fuel-cell and electric-powered vehicles in a push to launch 20 emission-free vehicles within the next four years.
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