According to notices announced by WARN, General Motors is set to lay off approximately 1,300 employees at two of their plants in Michigan. This news comes as the company has filed for these actions with the state regulators. Per WARN, or the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the company has to send out a notification at least 60 calendar days in advance before they close any plant or have any mass layoffs. This law applies to any company with at least 100 employees, of which General Motors far surpasses.
The two plants expected to be affected by the layoffs are the Orion Assembly and the Lansing Grand River Assembly.
Because the layoffs have to follow the 60-day rule from WARN, the employees will not be laid off until after New Year’s Day. This means that at least the employees who will be hit by the layoffs will be employed through the holidays, rather than be let go just before. Back in October, General Motors announced they will not begin their production of their fully electric pickup trucks until 2025. Many believe this delay has connections to the layoffs, either in that they need the money in order to begin the production process, or they do not need the extra employees at the moment.
A majority of the employees will be laid off from the Orion plant. There, they build the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV crossover and will also build many of their electric trucks there as well. However, due to the delay in that production, they are letting many of their staff go. According to General Motors, the delay is unrelated to the United Auto Workers’ Strike from earlier this year. The strike was the longest in the industry in the United States in 25 years, so it is unclear whether or not this is true.
The layoffs do have certain requirements that will provide alternative jobs to laid off employees.
All union employees who will be laid off from the Orion plant will receive offers to work in other factories in Michigan. Any salaried employee will also be offered positions in other General Motors entities. Both of these are due to a General Motors policy in place.
Other auto manufacturers have been making similar moves or turning to other measures to fund the transition from gas-powered to fully electric vehicles.
