General Motors will begin laying off 4,250 salaried workers on Monday as part of the restructuring plans the company announced late last year, two Detroit newspapers reported Friday.
GM offered buyouts for 18,000 workers last October, only four months after the company warned that steel tariffs imposed by President Trump would lead to fewer jobs in North America. In November, GM announced it would halt production at plants in Detroit, Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, and Ontario, while cutting as many as 14,000 jobs as part of its most ambitious restructuring plan in a decade.
Starting Monday, the job cuts will begin for salaried employees as GM seeks to eliminate 8,000 jobs by the end of this month, the Detroit News and Detroit Free-Press reported. The layoffs follow a 2018 reduction of 1,500 positions in GM’s contract workforce. The automaker expects the moves to help save up to $2.5 billion in costs this year and a total of $6 billion by 2020.
Beyond the salaried workers who face job cuts, another 6,000 hourly workers at the five plants could still find their positions in jeopardy because of the restructuring.
While the cost-cutting has proven popular with investors—GM’s stock is up 27% since late October—it’s drawn criticism among politicians in Washington. President Trump responded by saying he was “looking at cutting all GM subsidies, including for electric cars” (although it wasn’t clear what subsidies he was referring to), while GM CEO Mary Barra met with lawmakers to hear their concerns.
GM’s stock closed down 24 cents a share, or 0.6%, at $38.78 a share Friday.