General Motors is laying off 1,314 employees at two of its Michigan factories due to the imminent death of the Camaro and delays in building the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV at the Orion Assembly plant.
The job cuts will start from January 1, 2024, with 945 workers being axed from GM’s Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township. These cuts follow GM’s announcement in October that production of the Silverado EV and Sierra EV would be delayed by a year, forcing the company to idle the factory and transfer some 1,000 workers to other GM facilities across the state.
GM confirmed the cuts in a WARN notice filed with the state and received on December 6. It says it was unable to provide more advanced notice of the layoffs as it was waiting for the new UAW contract to be ratified.
“Once ratified, we had to identify the structural changes to the workforce at the Orion Subsystem facility with the inclusion of Subsystems into the bargaining unit, and determine what layoffs were required by the structural changes,” GM confirmed. “We are providing as much notice as is practicable under the circumstances.”
Speaking with Auto News, GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen said UAW-represented employees at the Orion Assembly site will be offered other opportunities in Michigan.
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In addition to the jobs being axed at the Orion Assembly facility, some 369 workers at the Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping factory will lose their jobs in phases starting from January 1 with production of the Camaro to end. Kuhnen noted that these workers will also be offered other work opportunities.
“GM anticipates having job opportunities for all impacted team members per the provisions of the UAW-GM National Agreement,” Kuhnen said. “Lansing Grand River Assembly will continue producing the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5.”
