LayoffBlog.com

General Motors Co. called back 1,350 union workers, its biggest one-time increase in jobs since 2006, as it boosts second-half production, partly in response to demand from the government’s “cash for clunkers” program.

GM is adding shifts and overtime as well as restoring weeks of production at select facilities, as sales top expectations.

Source: Bloomberg

For the first time in decades, General Electric is adding new operations at two of its manufacturing hubs, underlining what the company says is a new commitment to producing in the United States.
G.E. is building a 350-employee plant in Schenectady, N.Y., to make high-density batteries that will turn many locomotives into diesel-electric hybrids.

Source: CNBC, TheNewYorkTimes

~News submitted by upthecreek

General Motors Co. may have to cut more U.S. hourly jobs after an offer of buyouts and early retirements fell about 7,500 workers short of the reorganized automaker’s target.

The possibility of layoffs was disclosed today by Sherrie Childers Arb, a spokeswoman, in an interview after GM announced that more than 6,000 United Auto Workers members, or 11 percent of the hourly workforce, left the company on Aug. 1.

Source: Bloomberg

The governors and congressional delegations of Vermont and New Hampshire are asking the Labor Department to move quickly to provide help to 250 workers to be laid off at the Ethan Allen furniture plant in Vermont.

Source: CNBC

~News submitted by upthecreek

General Motors Corp. (GM), coinciding with its bankruptcy filing Monday, said it will shutter 17 factories and parts centers by the end of 2011. It will also cut an additional 5,000 salaried jobs.
The closures will reduce GM’s U.S. facilities to 33 from 47 by 2012. Between 18,000 and 20,000 workers will be affected by the shutdowns.

Source: CNNMoney

President Barack Obama said General Motors Corp. will reemerge from financial turmoil a “strong company” and that permitting it and Chrysler LLC to collapse could have triggered an economic depression.

GM got $4 billion in additional assistance to continue operations. Chrysler is reorganizing in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Source: Bloomberg

General Motors Corp., already intending to slash salaried jobs by 14 percent globally, is planning a new set of cuts this month that may be similar in severity in some units.

GM has said it will shed 7,000 more union jobs next year than originally planned and close an additional two factories as part of a plan to try to avoid bankruptcy and gain an additional $11.6 billion in U.S. aid.

Source: Bloomberg

According to CNBC, AP: “A union leader says automaker Ford Argentina is laying off 330 employees due to plummeting demand and production. Union said Monday that Ford told the workers they will lose their jobs May 1.”

~News submitted by upthecreek

General Motors Corp. said Thursday that 195 union workers at its Shreveport assembly plant accepted a buyout from the financially troubled auto giant.

The workers are among 7,500 workers nationwide who decided to take the deal, GM said. That represents about 12 percent of GM’s hourly work force represented by the United Auto Workers.

GM offered $20,000 cash and a $25,000 voucher to buy a car to all of its 62,400 hourly U.S. employees as part of an effort to further trim its blue-collar payroll.

Source: AP, Forbes

According to Reuters, CNBC: “Franco-American telecoms gear maker Alcatel-Lucent said it plans to cut 1,000 managerial posts from its global workforce will see 198 positions in France eliminated. Alcatel-Lucent managers in France told a works council meeting on Wednesday that 450 managerial posts would go in North America and 450 in Europe, of which 198 in France, the CFDT union said in a statement.”

~News submitted by upthecreek

According to MarketWatch: “AT&T and its wireless-service workers agreed to continue bargaining over a new labor contract after their previous agreement expired. The contract covers 20,000 of AT&T’s 300,000 employees.”
“On Friday, the union said in a statement that issues outstanding included wages, pensions, overtime, sales commissions, scheduling, subcontracting and job classifications, among others.”

Update (02-08-2009): AT&T-union talks hit snag as strike deadline nears, accordong to BusinessWeek

According to Yahoo Tech: “One message states that IBM will announce 16,000 layoffs on Jan. 23, affecting workers worldwide. Similar predictions are made in other recent posts on the site, which is run by the Alliance@IBM/Communications Workers of America Local 1701, a union that is trying to organize IBM workers.”

“The union, while still in an organizing phase and not yet recognized by IBM, has about 6,000 members, including IBM employees and retirees, according to national coordinator Lee Conrad. But because the union has not reached an employment contract with IBM, there is “not an awful lot” it can do except raise awareness of the issue”.

LayoffBlog.com: Stay tuned for more info.