Detroit Today: Why GM is offering buyouts to salaried employees
General Motors told investors earlier this year that it wants to reduce costs by $2 billion dollars.
In a move General Motors says it’s making in hopes of avoiding layoffs, the manufacturer is offering voluntary buyouts to many of its U.S. workers. Analysts say the move targets white collar workers, as GM attempts to cut $2 billion in costs.
This comes with collective bargaining talks with the United Auto Workers union slated to take place later this year. The UAW has also voted in six reform candidates to its executive board.
“There is recession risk [and] there is the huge cost to convert to electric vehicles that GM and everyone else is facing, so every billion dollars counts.” — Jamie Butters, Automotive News
Listen: What GM’s buyout means for organizers and workers with the United Auto Workers union.
Guest
Jamie Butters is the executive editor of the Automotive News and co-host of the Automotive News Daily Drive podcast. He’s recently written about the buyouts.
Butters says that GM is offering buyouts in an attempt to foresee any economic turmoil and avert it.
“The automakers and the dealers have been making really outsized profits, and that’s not going to last,” says Butters. “It is smart to think ahead — not assume that you’re going to keep making a billion-plus dollars every month in operating profit.”
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