Layoffs are expected at the GM Rochester Operations facility next month, according to a report from Rochester First. Its source is the UAW Local 1097 chapter, which represents the facility’s employees. Local management reportedly notified the union that 26 indefinite layoffs are on the way on March 24th.
“GM Rochester Operations has notified a small number of employees of an indefinite layoff, as a result of operational changes at the plant,” a General Motors spokesperson told Rochester First. “Impacted employees may be offered employment opportunities at Tonawanda Propulsion Systems or other GM facilities.” The Tonawanda Propulsion Systems facility in Buffalo, New York produces ICE engines for trucks, SUVs, crossovers, sedans, and the Corvette, namely, Ecotec 4-cylinder engines and Small-Block Gen V V8 engines.
GM Rochester Operations
The Rochester Operations facility first opened in 1908 and became part of General Motors in 1939 as the Rochester Products Division (RPD). Historically, it primarily built carburetors and related components and today still produces fuel and air delivery systems for ICE engines as well as EV battery cooling lines.
Slower-than-expected EV adoption may be part of the reason for the layoffs. We reported in early 2023 that General Motors was investing $68 million into Rochester Operations to support future V8 and EV production. The bulk of that investment was for the production of new battery pack cooling lines. However, since then, GM’s Ultium Cells battery plants haven’t been running at full capacity, and The General sold its stake in the Ultium Cells battery plant in Michigan. Fewer batteries mean less demand for the cooling lines produced at Rochester Operations.
GM Factory Zero
As for the next phase of GM EVs, the 2026 Cadillac Vistiq is expected to begin deliveries in 2025. The next EV unveiling we’re expecting from the automaker is the next-generation 2026 Chevy Bolt EV, which will be underpinned by the Bolt’s old BEV2 platform, but with updated motors and batteries. The Vistiq will be produced at the Spring Hill facility in Tennessee, and Chevy Bolt EV production will take place at the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas.
Comments
When President Biden left Office, the unemployment rate was 4.1% and he was CREATING 100-250k jobs monthly. We are in stag flation very possibly a recession with all of these layoffs.
Employing Illegal aliens , cooking the books and LYING about the numbers is NOT anything to brag about. MAGA !!!!
exactly…Ol’ Roy drank from Kamal’s shoe.
You are entitled to your opinions, but not the facts and data. Facts are facts. Private sector sources confirm the employment data.
Roy…Don’t get mad at me but most of those jobs were stay at home created jobs. Some of those people did not even exist, but were being sent paychecks as large as six figures to who or what we may never know. Let’s face it we’ve been ripped off to the tune of 55 billion dollars and climbing.
PIPE FITTER 48, you had better open the window. The fumes from that pipe dope are affecting your brain.
IVAN…..I have been breathing those fumes for over 50 years. To me it has been the “Sweet Smell of Success.”
PIPE FITTER 48, You make me laugh!
Biden held the presidency for most of January- the month the latest data is based on.
The only jobs that were created in the Biden administration was government tax payer unneeded paid jobs….private sector shrunk with Biden. Also Biden policies were no doubt causing inflation. And I am someone that voted for Biden prior. I now see the light.
Please Wake up and stop letting the media tell you how to think.
No true.
Typo above. . So true. Biden was a complete disaster for autoworkers.
No spin please,
Explain how President Biden was a complete disaster for auto workers.
Be specific, no generalizations, only facts if you have any.
I am a retired GM-UAW auto worker.
Maybe I missed something, or more likely you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Ivan, Just a Question. Why do you think the UAW didn’t back the Democratic Party during this election? When the always supported Democratic Party.
UAW has been losing members due to the Biden push on election vehicles that take less hourly labor to produce. Trump’s policies are going to force manufacturers to produce more in USA where the plants are union.
Steve, I am retired from GM-UAW. I have had to deal with watching employment number shrink due to technology and automation throughout my entire career at GM-UAW. That is just the way it is.
Did I like it? No, could I do anything about it? No.
As far as who the union endorses, or candidates it recommends, I take all of that with a grain of salt. I am a registered Democrat, but I don’t vote the party line. I vote for the candidates I like regardless of party.
I think the union endorsing or not endorsing someone is mostly political. They have to run for office too, and like most politicians they tell people what they want to hear.
Change is inevitable. It is not always easy. It is easier to accept it than wine about something. You have no control over.
How is the ridiculous UAW contract working out? Those employees being indefinitely laid off be sure and thank the UAW.
exctly
Mark, don’t follow so closely to the haters. If they stop quickly you head might go right up there ass.
exactly
It’s obviously working out great those employees will be able to go to another plant and keep working and making money, that’s actually what the contract is for so they’ll have job security no matter what happens and those employees will still be getting that 15 bonus.
You sound jealous.
LS3,
Layoffs at General Motors are nothing new, it happens all the time.
Thanks to the UAW you are able to transfer to another plant that can use employees.
I myself went from Rochester Products Division of General Motors, to Tonawanda Engine plant in the early ’90s.
These manpower shifts are usually due to technology changes and product allotments.
It takes a lot more people to build an engine than it does to build a fuel system.
In the past if a plant reduced employees GM would just lay them off. If another plant needed employees GM would hire off the street. In one of the negotiated contracts the UAW got GM to change this, and allow employees to transfer from a plant that didn’t need them to one that did. I benefited from this and retired from Tonawanda Engine plant.
God bless the UAW.
LS3,
You are just another Union hater.
Not knowing what you are talking about, and shooting off your mouth. Jealous blowhards.
People like you are a dime a dozen.
The Phenomenonal UAW Contract Is Working Out GREAT!!!!!!…..BEST Contract We’ve Had In Years!!!!!!…..Those 26 Employees Will Be Offered Employment At Other GM Facilities Plus They’ll Will Get Their $ $14500$. Thanks Shawn Fain 👍🏾 Haven’t Met Him Yet. When I Do Meet Him I’m Gonna Shake His Hand And Tell Him Whatever You’re Drinking 🍸Brother I’m Pouring……Tommy G.
Tommy G,
God bless the UAW.
this article is about the GM plant and not uaw. as far as ev vehicles. if gm is waiting on the majority acceptance of ev’s mary might as well shut the plant down.
I am wright,
GM-UAW
Without the UAW these employees would not have been eligible to transfer to another GM plant to continue their employment with GM.
Good luck guys.
Go, GM-UAW.
There is no guarantee those workers will get a job at another gm plant. If there is an opening then maybe. gm keeps getting smaller and smaller.
Daniel,
As the Baby Boomers keep retiring from GM. There is spots to fill. There is no guarantees on anything in life.
This is a win-win situation for GM and it’s UAW employees.
They should make Quadrajets again.
Daniel,
They certainly had a unique sound to them when the secondaries opened. Especially if you had an air cleaner that wasn’t enclosed in a metal housing.
Daniel,
The famous or infamous, Rochester Quad, depending on who you talk to.
I made thousands of them when I worked for Rochester Products Division of General Motors in Rochester New York.
That building is DELCO and had been something else for quite awhile and most of it had been subdivided Monroe ambulance was in there at one time
Jim,
Delco Products Division of General Motors. Was or is on 1555 Lyle Ave., just down from the 390 expressway. Delco, as it once was known as, manufactured electrical components for General Motors. It is a different division of GM than Rochester Products. The union employees at Delco were, IUE, International Union of Electrical Workers.
Starting around the ’80s General Motors change the names of both of those plants about a half a dozen times.
The GM plant in the photo, once known as Rochester Products is on the corner of Lexington Ave. and Mt. Read Boulevard.
Living in Rochester, This plant has been like a rollercoaster for years with employment numbers. It has almost been closed multiple times as well.
Bryce,
Yes it has. The biggest hit Rochester Products took was when they stopped making carburetors. The carburetors were first replaced by TBI’s, throttle body injection units.
There was nothing to them, two large injectors sitting above a throttle plate. They didn’t even make the injectors. They got the injectors from another Rochester Products plant, I think it was Sioux City Iowa.
When Rochester Products made carburetors it was a real factory.
Every part on a Rochester Quad was made in house out of raw materials.
The air horn, bowl, and throttle body were all cast in house using diecast machines. Punch presses stamped out the throttle plates and choke plates. There also was heat treat and plating. They made all the linkages, nuts, screws and jets. They had over 50 screw machines. They said it was one of the biggest screw machine operations in the country.
There was absolutely nothing on that carburetor that came in pre-made from some vendor.
Every carburetor was tested inside a pressurized climate controlled clean room. They put them on computerized stands and ran Stoddard solvent through them testing and simulating how they would run if they were on a car. Some of the larger carburetors like the Quad took almost 20 minutes to test.
Making carburetors was very labor intensive, and required a lot of employees. They used to run three shifts around the clock.
Better days…..
Steve, I forgot something. I ran out of places to reply to, so I guess I have to use the bottom of the page. All of this baloney is not new to me. I’ve seen trade wars and tariffs before. Tariffs negatively impact the people that they are supposed to help.
They don’t work. Corporations don’t shoulder the monetary burden of those tariffs consumers do.
I’m pretty sure you know where I stand on Donald Trump from my previous posts. I do not like him or trust him, to say the least. Trump is not some new person that I heard of running for president. I am a lifelong New Yorker. I didn’t like Donald Trump back in the mid 70s. and I like him even less now.
Endeavor to persevere,
Ivan.