General Motors Expands Brazil Operations At Gravataí, Avoids Strike At Sao Jose dos Campos

General Motors will add a third shift at its Gravataí Industrial Complex in the south of Brazil, resulting in the creation of a total of 2,630 jobs.

Of the 2,630 new jobs, 1,450 will be at the main Gravataí plant, which builds the Chevrolet Celta and new Onix, another 1,000 will be at suppliers located in the same facility, and 180 will be in the new powertrain facility in Joinville. The time frame that the new shift will be implemented is unclear as of this writing.

General Motors announced the additional shift just after it avoided a strike at another one of its manufacturing facilities in Brazil. The automaker reached an accord late Saturday with the union late Saturday evening at its Sao Jose dos Campos facility, located near the city of Sao Paulo; the development follows the August 2012 agreement between GM and the plant’s union to extended the no-layoff period until January 26, 2013. The avoided layoffs of 1,598 workers would have translated to losing roughly 15,000 jobs in Sao Jose dos Campos, according to the union.

The General recently consolidated its 2009 plan to invest $3 billion in its Brazil operations, with the new plan calling for the development and launch of new Chevrolet products while updating and adding plant capacity. As part of the revised plan, GM invested $1 billion in the Chevy Onix project and expanded capacity from 230,000 to 380,000 vehicles per year at Gravataí. The automaker then invested an additional $172 million to build a new engine and cylinder heads plant at Joinville, where production recently commenced.