GM to Lay Off 100 White Collar Workers
General Motors Co. will cut about 100 positions at its global research and development headquarters in Warren and will close a research and development facility in Bangalore, India, as part of a global restructuring, a source familiar with the plans said Monday.
GM officials began giving notices to affected Warren Tech Center employees after a meeting Thursday and will continue this week, according to the source. The company has 400 R&D workers at the Tech Center. The layoffs will affect about 25 percent of those workers.
Scientists and other employees will have 30 days to apply for other jobs at GM and if they aren’t placed in another position, layoffs will occur in early June, according to the source.
“GM leadership recently notified employees working in its global R&D organization of plans to realign the organization’s business structure,” Dan Flores, a GM spokesman said Monday evening. “These moves will enable the organization to better focus on commercializing customer focused innovation in a more efficient and cost effective manner.”
Flores said Warren employees learned of the realignment plans last week.
“There will be some work reassigned to Warren from other parts of the organization,” Flores said. “And there will be some work currently being done in Warren that will be discontinued or significantly streamlined.”
The Detroit News reported in December that GM had been quietly laying off salaried employees in engineering, product development and corporate operations. The downsizing is part of CEO Dan Akerson moves to reorganize the business and cut duplication worldwide.
Research and development work happening in India will be realigned with other global R&D locations, said the source, who is familiar with the plans. About 90 R&D workers in India could also be reassigned into other jobs, the source said.
GM has R&D facilities around the world but not all facilities are affected.
About 60 workers who work on fuel cell technology at a GM facility in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., will become aligned with GM’s powertrain division, which is based in Pontiac. The employees will not relocate.
GM would not provide global R&D employment figures but Flores said affected salaried workers would receive separation packages.
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