General Motors said today it will cut its global salaried work force by about 10,000, or 14 per cent, this year and impose pay cuts on most remaining white-collar US workers as it scrambles to slash costs under a restructuring mandated by its US government bailout.
GM said it would cut its salaried work force to about 63,000 from 73,000 during 2009.
In the struggling automaker's home market, about 3,400 of 29,500 white-collar jobs will be cut. Most jobs will be cut by May 1st, and most remaining US staff will see pay cuts of between 3 per cent and 10 per cent for the year, GM said.
The job and pay cuts are the latest step GM is taking to pare its operations ahead of a deadline to present a restructuring plan to the US government on February 17th.
"These difficult actions are necessitated by a severe drop in vehicle sales worldwide and by the need to restructure GM for long-term viability," GM said in a statement.
GM's sales in January plunged by 49 per cent and the automaker has said it expects industry-wide US sales to be near 10.5 million vehicles in 2009, extending a four-year slump that has taken the market to the lowest levels since the early 1980s.
As a result, GM executives have said the company is looking for deeper and faster cost-cutting under the restructuring plan that will be submitted to the US Treasury under terms of its $13.4 billion bailout.
GM has offered buyouts to its US workers represented by the United Auto Workers union. The automaker remains in talks with both the UAW and bondholders in an attempt to slash its outstanding debt.
GM said US executive pay would be cut by 10 per cent for the rest of 2009. Other salaried US workers will face pay cuts of between 3 percent and 7 per cent, it said.
Reuters