Poor big car sales may force General Motors to axe one of two shifts at its Orion Township assembly plant and lay off nearly half of the plant’s 3,700 hourly workers, a local union leader told the Detroit News yesterday.
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The newspaper also cited another union official saying that GM is considering axing a shift at its Linden, New Jersey plant which uses 2,400 hourly workers to build compact pickups and sport-utility vehicles.
GM spokesman Dan Flores responded that the union comments were “pure speculation but told the Detroit News that GM, like competitors, aligns output with market demand.
The Detroit News said that the 19-year-old Orion plant makes the Buick LeSabre and Park Avenue, Pontiac Bonneville and Oldsmobile Aurora whose combined sales fell 37 percent in January after declining 12 percent in 2001.
That drop in sales has prompted GM to temporarily shut down Orion for 18 weeks since the beginning of 2001, including this week, the newspaper added.
