GM to lay off 1,300 workers across 2 Michigan plants as vehicle production ends

DETROIT: Leading US car maker General Motors has announced it will lay off a total of 1,314 employees at two factories in Michigan as it wants to end production of certain vehicles in these plants with the promise of a transfer of 1,000 workers to other plants in the state.

GM filed a WARN notice posted Thursday that said it will cut 945 jobs starting January 1 at its Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, media reports said.

These cuts are related to GM's October announcement that it was delaying production of two all-electric pickups at the plant by a full year, thereby idling the factory at the end of this year and transferring about 1,000 workers to other GM facilities in the state, according to the Detroit Free Press.

GM had planned to start production on the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV next year at Orion, but the automaker said that it will "retime the conversion" of Orion Assembly plant to EV truck production and restart the plant in late 2025 instead.

The other WARN notice indicated that GM will cut 369 jobs at Lansing Grand River Assembly/Stamping as GM ends production of the Camaro muscle car built there. The cuts will happen in phases beginning January 1 and end in March 2024, according to the notice.

The automaker says it will offer affected employees jobs elsewhere in the company.