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GM: 508 employees laid off, more awaiting re-allocation amid plant closures

General Motors (GM) announced plans to idle five of its North American manufacturing plants in November 2018, leaving 2800 'active' hourly jobs at risk.


According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, about 500 of those 2800 at-risk employees have been laid off awaiting re-assignment, with 700 left at the Detroit Hamtramck assembly plant closing in January 2020, and 265 employed at the Warren Transmission plant closing in August 2019.

Another plant in Baltimore, Maryland closes this week, to be closely followed by one in Warren, Michigan. According to a company spokesperson, 1305 jobs had been transferred from idle (or restructured) plants at the end of April.

As reported by the Detroit Free Press, 593 workers were moved from Detroit Hamtramck when Chevy Volt and Buick LaCrosse production ended, 670 transferred from Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, with a further 28 shifted from Warren Transmission and 14 from Baltimore Operations.

Those transferred have moved to Flint in Michigan and Spring Hill in Tennessee, along with plants in Toledo, Indiana, Missouri and New York. Some workers have been offered the opportunity to move but can't for personal reasons.

"There are employees that are still in the process of being placed," a GM spokesperson said.

"We will have opportunities at other locations as we work our way through 2019, including at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Arlington, Texas, as they prepare for launches."

The plant closures have flow-on effects for people employed by GM's suppliers, who won't be offered transfers or redundancy packages.

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