Some 1,000 General Motors employees across the globe woke up Friday morning to messages that told them that they had been laid off without advance warning.
“I was laid off from GM at 5:03 a.m. this morning after just over 40 years via e-mail(!), as were an unspecified number of other colleagues,” one now-former GM manager told a reporter on the condition of anonymity.
GM laid off approximately 1,000 people globally, the majority of whom worked at the automaker’s Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, according to a person familiar with the matter. The layoffs followed the terminations of a similar number of workers who worked in GM’s software and services divisions in August and of 1,700 workers at a manufacturing plant in Kansas in September.
The General had previously offered some 5,000 salaried workers voluntary buyouts in April 2023.
According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification that GM filed with the state, the dismissed employees will receive payments equal to their wages and benefits through January 14, 2025. The notice revealed that 507 of the laid-off workers were employees at the Global Technical Center or who were assigned to work there. This included 34 people in after-sales engineering, 40 in engineering operations, 26 in manufacturing engineering and 24 in sales operations.
Located in Warren, Michigan, “[T]he Global Technical Center is globally recognized as the preeminent innovation center for automotive engineering, desiign, and advanced technology,” according to a GM webpage.
“In order to win in this competitive market, we need to optimize for speed and excellence,” GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement. “This includes operating with efficiency, ensuring we have the right team structure and focusing on our top priorities as a business. As part of this continuous effort, we’ve made a small number of team reductions. We are grateful to those who helped establish a strong foundation that positions GM to lead in the industry moving forward.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
