DETROIT - GENERAL Motors Corp started firing 1,600 white-collar workers Monday, continuing its effort to slash costs and qualify for more government loans on the same day it revealed it spent US$2.8 million (S$4.23 million) in the first three months of this year to lobby federal lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Fiat's CEO left Italy to resume critical talks on an alliance with Chrysler LLC, as deadlines draw closer for GM and Chrysler to finish their restructuring plans.
47,000 jobs to go by 2009
GM has said it will eliminate 47,000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2009, but the cuts may go even deeper as the company moves toward its deadline. CEO Fritz Henderson has said the automaker will close more factories beyond five announced in February. The factories to be closed have not yet been identified.
'There is no question, as we look at our revised plan to go deeper and go faster in our operational restructuring, there will be further reductions in manpower, people, that are going to affect communities, affect plants and people, both on hourly and the salaried side of the business,' Henderson told reporters Friday.
Both automakers are living on a combined US$17.4 billion in government loans and have said they'll need more money to survive.
Chrysler must cut its debt and its labor costs and forge an alliance with Fiat Group SpA by April 30, or President Barack Obama says Chrysler won't get any more help.
If GM can swap much of its debt for stock and get concessions from the UAW and Canadian Auto Workers by June 1, the government says it will provide more loans to keep the company going.
Bankruptcy financing also is possible if the company determines Chapter 11 is its best bet to achieve the cuts it needs.
GM's layoffs this week bring the automaker close to its goal announced in February to cut 3,400 US salaried positions, spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. GM has about 29,000 salaried workers in the US.
'In these unprecedented times, GM is reinventing every aspect of our business, including our organisational size and structure, to create a lean and agile company,' GM North America President Troy Clarke said on Monday in an e-mail to employees obtained by The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, GM said in a government filing that it spent US$2.8 million in the first quarter lobbying the US government on a range of issues, including the economic stimulus package, and environmental, consumer safety and health issues.
'We're a part of arguably one of the most regulated industries and we provide a voice in complex policy discussions,' GM spokesman Greg Martin said. GM's lobbying costs fell 15 per cent from the $3.3 million it spent in the fourth quarter of 2008, but they rose from the $2.7 million GM spent in the third quarter. -- AP
