GM announced yesterday that it would begin cutting white collar jobs in the U.S., starting in April.
The first cuts will come to GM's Warren Technical Center, where it will layoff 160 workers, mostly engineers and support staff. Their last day will be April 1."It's a tough day," GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. "It's a very difficult decision for GM. These are talented, capable people. It's unfortunate that we had to let them go but we need to restructure the company and resize it to be profitable at a lower industry volume and this is part of the process."Wilkinson said GM plans to cut 3,400 salaried U.S. positions before May 1. GM had announced earlier this year that it was cutting 10,000 salary positions globally, with a third of those cuts occurring in the U.S. GM will also cut 18,000 hourly jobs in the U.S. by the end of the year, and 47,000 jobs this year worldwide. GM had about 243,000 salaried and hourly workers at the end of 2008.GM offers up to six months of base salary and a company contribution for insurance after termination, as well as outplacement services.