Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
(DETROIT) - Tough times at General Motors. GM has announced a slough of cuts in both personnel and other costs in order to weather the severe drawdown in the automotive market.
According to a GM release, the motor manufacturing giant will be reducing salaried positions significantly, and cutting all healthcare coverage to retirees over the age of 65. In the release, they also mentioned increasing the overall pension payout to those retirees from a pension fund they call "overfunded."
Additionally, top GM executives will be taking a salary hit, to the tune of around 75% or more, and the elimination of cash bonuses, and is eliminating their annual $1 dividend for the first time since 1922.
GM is also moving up the closure of manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin, Ohio, Ontario and Mexico, is looking to cut other jobs from remaining plants, and it is also exploring negotiating further cuts from the UAW.
Linda Messina at GM in Detroit tells WBIW News no specifics of the job cuts have been announced, so there's no way to know if any Bedford jobs will be affected.
However, a representative at the UAW Local 440 says, as far as she knows, union personnel should be safe from any cuts here in the Stone City since cuts will be focused on white-collar personnel.
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