it's a very busy Monday we will start
with general motors making steep cuts as
part of what the company calls a
transformation in all five plants will
be idle two of them here in Metro
Detroit a total of fourteen thousand
seven hundred factory and white-collar
workers will be laid off reaction to
GM's big announcement has been drawing
reaction from around it's been coming in
from all around the world tonight it
really hasn't president Trump's weighed
in just a short time ago and he is not
pleased take a listen here we don't like
it I believe they'll be opening up
something else and whenever I was very
tough I spoke with her when I heard they
were closing and I said you know this
country's done a lot for General Motors
all the Tuchman has been getting
reaction from GM workers at the
soon-to-be idled Warren transmission
plant we're gonna start there with rod
Maloney our business editor who's live
at the Detroit Hamtramck assembly plant
which is one of them on the bullseye
today rod yeah Devon you know a lot of
people are wondering why now what what
is prompting all of this and the answer
is complex and it's twofold the first
thing is that we're coming up to the end
of the year Wall Street wanting to know
what GM is going to be looking toward in
the future well tomorrow is the start of
the LA Auto Show they're gonna be
showing vehicles their analysts will be
there watching very closely to find out
what precisely GM sees as its future and
today it laid it out dee hams Volt
hybrid and the LaCrosse will go the way
of the dinosaur along with several other
cars GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement
saying the actions we're taking today
continue our transformation to be highly
agile resilient and profitable while
giving us flexibility to invest in the
future end quote many might wonder why
this is and former GM vice chairman bob
lutz summed it up they're taking a bunch
of and looking to repurpose some of
those says auto trader analyst michelle
trails GM's all in and a big risk of
autonomous electric vehicle future and
one of the things they're doing is
shoring up the profits so that they can
keep investing in that new ue wgm vice
president terry did asan
used saying quote this callous decision
by GM to reduce or cease operations in
American plants while opening or
increasing production in Mexico and
China plants for sales to American
consumers is in its implementation
profoundly damaging to our American
workforce GM's production decisions in
light of employee concessions during the
economic downturn and a taxpayer bailout
from bankruptcy puts profits before the
working families of this country whose
personal sacrifices stood with GM during
those dark days end quote
now there are a lot of moving parts to
all of this but it's an open challenge
really this this hunting that they're
doing to the UAW and what General Motors
is essentially doing is putting all of
these plants that they say they're going
to close against each other as they
begin their national contract talks next
summer because it's obvious that they
want to use the technology they want to
go all-electric in order to do that they
may need some plants to build that so
the ability to keep a plant like deham
open is something that they're going to
negotiate as part of their contract
talks next summer also GM stock up 5%
today making Wall Street happy Mary
Barra Singh she wants to show more
profit and that's precisely what she's
doing in Wall Street reflected very much
today those who didn't like it of course
were the line workers and for that I
turned to my colleague Paula Tuchman
where she's been talking to them today
about a very disappointing day Paula
right and not only GM workers but also
the businesses that profit from GM
workers indeed these are business
decisions but also these decisions
affect local businesses in the GM
corridors where they make cars when the
Warren transmission operations plant
closes August of 2019 as salaried and
hourly workers leave their home plant at
nine mile and mound the loss will be
felt on Main Street USA as deeply as it
is at Main Street Deli less than a mile
away they buy cigarettes they usually
buy their lottery their Lottery
scratch-off tickets they usually come in
and they buy either our pizzas that we
make fresh daily our subs an average
spend per pop in twenty to thirty
dollars
LaShawn worked at Detroit Hamtramck
and has had a rollercoaster employment
and I work on the second shift for nine
months then they just completely shut
down second shift they laid me off for
like four months then I worked at Warren
tech Center then I just got laid off
there in September so initially this is
my home plant and I came here to put in
four other plants and I can't get in
today she was hoping to get reassigned
to a new plant that prospect made grim
this morning by the announcement of
shuttering a total of five North
American plants including her home plant
come March through June of next year
which makes it harder for others to keep
their jobs if they're closing that down
to idle it then yeah it's gonna close
it's gonna make our business lawyer
yes I want to go back to that gym worker
for just a moment after I spoke with her
she jumped into her own GM vehicle
wondering how she's going to be able to
continue to pay for it and that's how
that trickles down for the workers and
the local businesses guys the ripples
run in so many directions
all right Paula and our coverage of this
major story is far from over in our 6
o'clock report tonight we will look at
what GM's decision could now mean for
Ford and Chrysler also a closer look at
the Chevy Volt of a car that once was
touted as the future for General Motors
and if you want to get caught up on all
the details of GM's big moves today head
to click on Detroit comm you can find a
full breakdown of the plants being idled
and the number of white-collar jobs
being cut as a result just click on the
link in the top stories section