GM adding 1,000 jobs at Flint Assembly

Flint — General Motors Co. is adding 1,000 jobs at Flint Assembly, where the automaker builds its heavy-duty trucks, company president Mark Reuss said before the Tuesday launch of the new 2020 Chevrolet Silverado Heavy Duty trucks.

The 1,000 all-new positions in Flint come as GM is planning to indefinitely idle four U.S. plants, including Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Warren Transmission, Baltimore Operations and Lordstown Assembly in Ohio. The new jobs in Flint will be offered "with priority for those from unallocated plants," Reuss said.

The plant actions this year are part of a larger restructuring GM is embarking on to save $6 billion by 2020 and reposition for a future the automaker sees as driverless and emission-free.

The latest move in this sweeping restructuring is happening this month as GM executes a majority of 4,000 layoffs among its white-collar workers, with most of the cuts happening in North America.

"These were tough decisions but we’re trying to transform and pivot the company and work on the things that we know are the future," Reuss told reporters Tuesday. "We’ve got to right-size and be extremely effective (with) our new products that we’re developing for the future, but also develop and launch products like the HDs here in Flint."

Flint is GM’s oldest and longest continually producing plant in North American, and is produces heavy-duty trucks for Chevy and GMC.

The plant builds 250,000 trucks per year, which amounts to one truck every 90 seconds. GM has invested more than $1.5 billion there since 2011, and has increased space to 6 million square feet.

The automaker announced the news at the plant inside a 883,000-square-foot body shop.

nnaughton@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @NoraNaughton