DETROIT, Nov. 21 - General Motors said it would cut up to 30,000 jobs and close a dozen automobile and parts factories and distribution centers in the next three years in an effort to stem the company's billion-dollar losses.þþRick Wagnoer, G.M.'s embattled chief executive, announced the cuts this morning at the company's headquarters here before trading began on Wall Street. þþMr. Wagnoer said the company will offer early retirement packages to employee at the plants that will be closed. All together, the restructuring would reduce the company's production capacity by 1 million cars and trucks, which comes on top of a reduction of 1 million automobiles from 2002 to 2005. After the latest round of cuts, the nation's biggest automaker will have the capacity to produce 4.2 million cars and trucks, down about 30 percent from 2002.þþÿThe decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work,ÿ he told employees in a televised address.þþG.M. has been working on the restructuring plan for the past several months. In recent weeks, speculation has circulated among investors that G.M. could be forced to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy, sending G.M.'s stock to new lows for the year. þþLast week, Mr. Wagoner flatly denied the auto company was considering the step, which was taken in October by the Delphi Corporation, G.M.'s biggest parts supplier. Delphi was part of G.M. until 1999. þþMr. Wagoner had vowed to announce a plan to bring G.M.'s production capacity in line with its United States sales by 2008. The automaker has been meeting with officials of the United Auto Workers union to discuss its plan. Mr. Wagnoer said today that he expects to reach a deal with the union soon on reducing jobs through attrition and early retirement packages.þþThe 30,000 job cuts, which make up almost 10 percent of the company's global staff, appear to encompass the 25,000 positions it previously announced plans to eliminate in the United States. In an press conference, Mr. Wagoner, who has been under increasing pressure, said he has not thought about resigning. He declined to provide a financial forecast for 2006 but said the company would reduce its non-union, salaried workforce in 2006.þþG.M. said it will shut down five automobile assembly plants in Oklahoma City; Lansing, Mich.; Spring Hill, Tenn.; Doraville, Ga.; and Oshawa, Ontario. Seven parts factories and distribution centers will be closed in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oregon and Ontario.þþRecently, U.A.W. members at G.M. voted to accept modest changes in their health care benefits, which had been virtually free. Despite that, G.M. still faces huge liabilities for retiree health care and pension benefits. þþ
Source: NY Times
