GM will close pair of factories
DETROIT — General Motors Corp.'s efforts to hoard cash and outlast a prolonged economic slump claimed the jobs of more than 2,700 workers Monday as the automaker announced the demise of factories in Michigan and Wisconsin.
GM said it would shutter a metal stamping factory in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming by the end of next year, and it also sped up the closure of its Janesville, Wis., sport utility vehicle plant, with most of that facility shuttering Dec. 23.
"I am sick about what's happened here," said Greg Golembiewski, president of the United Auto Workers local at the Wyoming factory, who thought the plant was safe because of its safety and productivity awards.
General Motors' shares lost nearly half their value last week as broader markets tanked and investors feared GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor could run out of cash before the global economic slump ends. But they were bolstered Monday by the weekend revelation that GM held merger talks with Chrysler and as more support for the global banking system fueled a 936-point rebound in the Dow Jones industrials.
At the Grand Rapids Metal Center, managers gathered workers at the end of the first shift Monday to deliver the bad news, GM spokesman Chris Lee said. The factory employs about 1,340 hourly and 180 salaried workers.
The Grand Rapids plant was picked for closure because more than 40 percent of its parts go to slow-selling truck and SUV plants, and because GM wants to cut shipping costs by keeping its stamping plants closer to assembly plants, Lee said.
Earlier Monday in Janesville, workers got the news that SUV production at the plant, with 1,200 workers represented by the UAW, will come to an end sooner than expected due to declining sales, Lee said.
The factory also has 35 to 50 workers making small- to medium-duty trucks. They will keep working through May or June to complete an order for Isuzu Motors, Lee said.
