AUTO INDUSTRY
GM hires replacement workers
An estimated 450 people will be brought on for temporary jobs, replacing workers who took buyouts.
Friday, June 27, 2008
MORAINE — General Motors Corp. has hired the temporary labor it needs to replace hundreds of union workers who have opted to leave the automaker's payroll, a spokeswoman said Thursday, June 26.
An estimated 450 people will be brought on for temporary jobs at the plant, which makes midsized sport utility vehicles, said Jessica Peck, a GM spokeswoman.
"The candidate pool for this round is fairly well closed," Peck said.
In the meantime, more than 770 workers who accepted a buyout or early retirement will work their last day at the Stroop Road plant today, June 27, Peck said.
The temporary laborers will include workers laid off from the plant in January, those who had worked temporarily at the plant before and hourly workers slated to be laid off from the GM-Isuzu truck engine plant on Dryden Road, Peck said.
"We're trying to do the best we can to offer them opportunities," she said.
Earlier this month, GM announced plans to close the SUV plant in 2010, or sooner if sales require it. The plant makes Trailblazers and GMC Envoys. GM's senior management blamed plummeting demand for these vehicles, fueled by skyrocketing gas prices, for the plant's anticipated closure.
John Harlow, shop chairman of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communication Workers of America Local 798, which represents some 2,300 GM-Moraine workers, could not be reached on Thursday. But he said previously that more than 600 production and more than 100 skilled trade employees took the buyouts.
On Saturday, the GM plant in Moraine, along with other GM facilities will begin a scheduled shutdown that lasts through July 14.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7317 or ttresslar@DaytonDailyNews.com.
GM's financial woes
Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged to their lowest price in more than 33 years Thursday.
GM shares fell $1.38, or 10.8 percent, to close at $11.43, after tumbling as low as $11.21 earlier in the session. The low price for the day tied the low reached on Dec. 30, 1974, according to the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Security Prices. The center adjusts prices for stock splits.
GM's drop came after a Goldman Sachs analyst cut his rating to "Sell" from "Neutral" and his price target to $11 from $19, saying things could still get worse for the North American automotive industry as a whole.
GM shares had traded as high as $43.20 over the past year.
