GM laying off hundreds of workers as Chevrolet Camaro, Bolt production end

General Motors Co. will lay off indefinitely 1,314 workers at two Michigan plants as production of the Chevrolet Camaro and Bolt end, according to letters filed with the state of Michigan.

The Detroit automaker is laying off an additional 34 workers at its assembly plant in Lake Orion following ratification of its contract with the United Auto Workers, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification. That means a total of 945 workers will be laid off there, including job cuts announced in October that will start on Jan. 1 because of production ending of the Bolt EV and EUV on Dec. 18.

The other 369 layoffs are happening at the Lansing Grand River Assembly plant, where GM is ending production of the Camaro muscle car. These layoffs start Jan. 2, spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement.

The additional layoffs at Orion come after the automaker finalized its new contract with the UAW in which workers of GM Subsystems LLC, a GM subsidiary, are now included. These workers, who do some jobs previously performed by workers under the national UAW-GM contract and tasks dedicated to electric-vehicle production, previously had their own contract and were paid less than traditional GM production workers. They had received $18.50 to $22 per hour and were bumped up to full production wages in the new agreement, which top out at $35.88 per hour after the latest 11% pay hike.

"We were unable to provide more notice of this Additional Planned Action because the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement was not ratified until approximately a week ago," Justin Wicker, GM's director of human resources and labor relations, wrote in the WARN dated Dec. 1. "Once ratified, we had to identify the structural changes to the workforce at the Orion Subsystem facility with the inclusion of Subsystems into the bargaining unit, and determine what layoffs were required by the structural changes."

Wicker added it's possible that most, if not all, affected employment will have placement opportunities at other local GM plants. That includes at the Factory Zero Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, Kelly said. Salaried employees at the plant also will be placed in "other internal opportunities in accordance with GM policy."

Orion is slated to produce electric trucks on GM's Ultium EV platform after a $4 billion investment. The automaker in October, however, said it was pushing back their launch by one year to late 2025, focusing on Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra EV launches at Factory Zero.

"As previously announced, Orion Assembly will be converted for battery electric truck production, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV, in late 2025," Kelly said. "Construction includes significant facility and capacity expansion at the site, including new body and paint shops and new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas."

GM is planning to bring the Bolt back. Timing, production site and other details about the next-generation Bolt haven't been released.

The UAW agreement also says GM has agreed to invest $1.25 billion into Lansing Grand River for future EVs. More details on that haven't been released. GM anticipates having job opportunities for all impacted team members at the Lansing plant, too, in accordance to provisions of the UAW-GM contract, Kelly said.

"Lansing Grand River Assembly informed employees today that the plant will adjust staffing levels due to the end of Camaro production," Kelly said. "Lansing Grand River Assembly will continue producing the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5."

The state also published the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification for the previously announced temporary layoffs at Stellantis NV's Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, blaming the move "in part" to comply with California emissions regulations that has the automaker only shipping ordered non-plug-in hybrid Grand Cherokee and Wrangler SUVs to California and other states that follow its emissions regulations.

The WARN lists 2,453 layoffs, though the automaker said it'll likely be much lower than that once details based on the UAW contract are hashed out. The break down includes 1,577 production operators, 718 supplemental workers, 104 skilled trades employees, 42 team leaders and 12 apprentices. Those layoffs at set to take effect Feb. 5.

bnoble@detroitnews.com

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