General Motors To Lay Off 104 Workers At Flint Engine (Updated)
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Come April, 104 workers at GM’s Flint Engine Operations plant will lose their jobs, as General Motors plans to discontinue the third shift at the facility. According to reports, the job cuts are due to GM’s decision to source the turbocharged 1.4 liter engine from a plant in Korea — which reportedly came online sooner than expected (more on this in the GMA take).
The layoffs will affect 64 full-time and 40 temporary workers, while third shift operations on the machining line will not be affected. The plant current employes about 900 hourly and salaried workers. Of the 104 workers being laid off, 60 have seniority and will be offered employment at other GM plants pending union negotiations, while the other 44 are temporary workers without a transfer offer.
The layoffs represent GM’s third downsizing this year, following the closure of the Grand Blanc Weld Tool Plant in mid-January and layoffs at the Flint Delphi-East plant three weeks later. Not all news is grim, however, as GM is adding several thousand high-tech IT jobs across the United States as part of its IT transformation strategy.
The GM Authority Take
After making a few calls and emails, here’s what’s happening: the 1.4 liter turbo-charged engine (LUJ/LUV) for the Buick Encore that’s also available in the Chevrolet Sonic and Cruze was being assembled in Flint, then sent to GM’s plant in Korea, and then sent to GM’s plant in Bupyeong, South Korea to be placed in the Encore. Once the vehicle was assembled (in Korea), it was then shipped to the U.S. In effect, the engine crossed the ocean twice in the process. GM could also source the same engine from its manufacturing operations in Austria, but — for whatever reason — elected not to.
Either way, it’s always sad to see local jobs go, especially when it’s such a sudden decision. Interestingly, GM is saying that the third assembly shift has always been a temporary affair, while some of the workers who worked the shift were under the impression that the shift was more permanent. We earnestly wish those workers who won’t be transfered to other plants the best of luck in finding a new job.
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Business as usual.
The real question is not why they are now going to build the engine in the same country as the car is built (which only makes sense, why ship the engine twice over seas) BUT why they built the engine here in the first place.
Well I reread the article and it states in the first line that the Korean plant just came on line to build the engine.
Question asked and answered.
My thoughts are that GM will take care of the people that are GM employees and for the temporaries, they’ll need to update their resume and start looking again. It is not the end of the world for the temps as they are temporaries because they have not proven themselves yet. Having GM on your resume is nice and it should help them in the future. I used to be a temporary and I used to be a consultant (temp with a degree). So, if any of the temporaries feel stung by this, there is always college.
crazy…use American workers close to home, please!
In a globalized world it is sad to say that sometimes, oftentimes, that doing so doesn’t make sense, as seen here.
With GM, and many other brands, switching to a global portfolio it is going to become even easier to switch operations from one plant to another with little to no interference with finished product rolling off the assembly line.
This third shift was only added in September 2012 if this report is to be believed.
http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/03/future_uncertain_for_104_gener.html#incart_river
How would you like to be one of the permanent GM employees that was moved into that shift and now canned?
Good way perhaps if you can plan that far ahead to get rid of bad employees
If I read the article above it says the 60 full time GM employees will be moved to another plant. Not canned.
The 44 TEMPORARY employees will be let go, but most likely kept on the list when new TEMPORARY jobs open up.
Do America still have the Dayvan? The luxary all purpose utility, the only thing close in Europe is the Vivaro Combi 9 seater (if only it had a V6, instead of the diesel)
Korea…. stay the hell away from that. If it’s not built in Michigan, I don’t want it. I try my hardest to find a vehicle specifically assembled and supplied from mostly Michigan when buying a new vehicle. My 05 Grand AM, Silverado, the only one not is our Malibu which came from Kansas, and the damn transmission is Korean, but the engine came from Flint. I take a certain pride in ownership driving a vehicle that I know was built by people that could very well be my neighbor.
Kiel, understood… But in todays world your neigbor could live on the other side of the world… Still we should pride ourselves in buying American…
Not good news. Outsourcing is not looked upon with good feelings for all that love Michigan.
The sooner this dumb ass congress can punish outsourcing, and reward domestic production, with taxes and tax breaks, the better off this state will be.
We’ve been hurt far too long now as it is.
Rich, while GM did lay off 104 workers in a Flint, it is hiring 4,000 new ones across the nation:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/03/why-did-gm-choose-arizona-texas-georgia-and-michigan-for-its-4-it-innovation-centers/
Granted, those 4,000 aren’t manufacturing jobs, but jobs are jobs… right? All that is to say that GM knows where it’s from.
I haven’t given up on the General Alex. The entire manufacturing crisis is with all American industries, and outsourcing itself. Nonetheless, Michigan has been hit the hardest by the government’s decision to make outsourcing extremely profitable with a tax structure that rewards the transferring of production.
The high tech jobs, of which you address, will be fine for the moment, but if things don’t change… Their jobs will eventually be precarious as well. The gap in high skill and low skill jobs is not only dangerous for the economy, it’s dangerous for society as well. Its a conundrum which will have to be addressed soon as we have already crossed the Rubicon.
I’m hopeful that the General is aware of this, otherwise… The workers will not be able to buy what they make, and those who have lost, or will lose, their jobs presents a desperate, and hopeless future. The clock has been ticking, and I hope that the upper echelon realizes the importance of this crisis, or they may not have a populace to sell to.
GM/Ford/Chrysler are one of the last manufacturers of anything to survive in this country and the only reason is because back in the 70’s the foreign manufacturers (Toyota, Honda, etc.) were “forced” to move plants to this country. This allowed GM to pay “outrageous” wages and benefits to an unskilled workforce well above what other major exporting countries pay.
However GM/Ford/Chrysler still did not survive (Ford was months away from bankruptcy also) because these import brands moved to areas and paid much lower wages/benefits than the domestics. It has only been in the last couple years that the wages/benefits have come down to those of the south and now they are very profitable even with much lower sales volumes.
WHEN the Chinese start to export vehicles to us with quality you will see a major shift of all US manufacturers to Mexico and elsewhere to remain profitable. Korean cars are already greatly increasing sales with their quality vehicles and LOW prices. So far Kia only has one plant here but I sure do not see a major movement toward US plants from the Koreans.
But to say GM needs to do something to resolve this is looking thru some kind of foggy glasses. GM (and others) need to be profitable and if we go back to the 70’s with a competitor that can sell at cut rate prices they can do nothing but reduce cost (by going to a cheaper work force) or go out of business.
My next car will most likely be a Sonic or Verano built in Lake Orion, especially with gas prices rising. I know I don’t have much control over it, but I’m hoping to get a 1.4L assembled in Flint and the transmission from there as well. A vehicle with 75% of it’s parts coming from the US/Canadian border is alright by me.