In the first phase of a massive plan to cut costs and increase profit, General Motors will be closing multiple North American car assembly plants. These closures will result in at least 15% of GM’s workforce being laid off. The following facilities will be closing by the end of 2019:
- Lordstown Assembly plant in northeast Ohio
- Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in southeast Michigan
- Oshawa Assembly plant in Ontario
- Baltimore Operations parts plant
- Warren Transmission Operations plant in southeast Michigan.
Between the Detroit plant, the Lordstown plant, and the Oshawa plant, 5,600 workers will be losing their jobs. In addition to these closures, GM will be ending production of Chevrolet Cruze, Volt, and Impala vehicles. GM CEO Mary Barra said that these cuts will be aimed toward making the company “lean and agile,” and ideally put them on track for a future full of ride-sharing and self-driving vehicles. GM estimates that the cost cuts will return approximately $6 billion in profit to the company by the end of 2020.
The United Auto Workers, one of the largest auto worker employee unions, has decried this plan, calling it “callous,” and in a public statement, said that they would “confront this decision by GM through every legal, contractual and collective bargaining avenue open to our membership.”
