General Motors is expected to lay off about 4,000 salaried workers under a reorganisation announced late last year, a person familiar with the matter has said. The layoffs are part of a cost-cutting plan GM announced in November, which will slash 15 percent of its salaried and contract staff and shutter seven plants, including five in North America.
Media reports estimated the total job cuts of salaried staff and union workers at about 14,000, including about 6,000 union workers. GM said the actions – which were roundly criticised by US and Canadian politicians – would save $6 billion in costs.
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GM has not estimated how many workers would be involuntarily terminated as a result of the cuts.
A GM spokesman declined to comment on the timing of the layoffs after CNBC and the Detroit News reported they would begin Monday to get ahead of the company’s earnings report.
The spokesman said “we’ll communicate with our employees first.” About 2,300 salaried workers opted for voluntary buyouts, while another 1,500 contract staff were let go, said the source, who described the estimate of 4,000 laid off salaried staff as reasonable.
GM officials have said they expect to add 2,700 jobs at various US factories across and that US union staff would be offered transfers.
The automaker also is working with Canadian universities and government officials to assist some 3,000 workers affected by the closure of an Ontario plant, a GM spokesman said.
Brian Rothenberg, a spokesman for the United Auto Workers, said not all workers eligible for transfers will be able to relocate for family reasons.
“All of them are impacted,” Rothenberg said. “We don’t know how many will be laid off vs relocated.” GM has defended the cuts as essential to position the company for the long-term, and savings from the reorganization boosted its 2019 profit outlook.
But the moves were roundly condemned by politicians, including US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
CHANGSHA, China, Nov. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SANY Group, ("SANY"), a globally leading enterprise of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, is accentuating advancing sustainable development and the green manufacturing transformation of the heavy machinery industry, ahead of the COP28 UAE, that is set to take place from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai. The theme of the 13-day program this year is "Actionism," calling for people to rise to meet the climate change challenges.
The COP28 will center on four major paradigm shifts – namely accelerating the transition from fossil fuels, agreeing on climate finance shifts, emphasizing the role of people and nature in climate action, and ensuring the summit is an inclusive event that women, indigenous people, local communities, youth, countries and more can all be a part of.
SANY is responding actively and positively to the summit's agenda with concrete actions to promote the transformation of green manufacturing, bringing sustainable solutions to the industries of mining, construction, wind power, and more.
Taking green actions to build a sustainable future
SANY is vigorously expanding the use of green energy (renewables such as solar and wind) in production processes to reduce the reliance on traditional energy sources, lower carbon emissions, and support climate change actions. It has adopted multiple initiatives, especially in accelerating the R&D and application of wind energy, hydrogen, and electrification solutions, and achieved significant results.
SANY's subsidiary SANY Renewable Energy has been investing in and constructing wind farms to boost the proportion of wind power in the energy structure, through intelligent upgrades in manufacturing and creating intelligent workshops. By doing this, SANY Renewable Energy has reduced the overall unit energy consumption and carbon emissions by 15 percent compared to pre-upgrade.
In 2022, SANY has added more than 3,000 energy metering connections. SANY built China's first intelligent mixing station park and invested 3.22 million yuan in photovoltaic construction that will produce 900,000 kWh of power annually. The park will cut 887 tons of carbon emission, 242 tons of dust emissions, 26.7 tons of sulfide, and 13.4 tons of nitric oxide to achieve synergetic development of intelligent manufacturing and environmental conservation.
A total of 11 subsidiaries of SANY have installed photovoltaic power generation equipment, with clean energy usage amounting to 16.013 million kWh.
SANY is actively engaged in the R&D of hydrogen fuel cell technology to improve battery efficiency, reduce cost, and boost the production and storage capabilities, while expanding the applications of hydrogen energy.
Innovation-driven climate action tackles industry bottlenecks
Through establishing a green supply chain, SANY adopts renewable materials and environmentally friendly technologies to reduce resource waste and improve the sustainability of the supply chain.
SANY continues to improve the long-term mechanism for pollution prevention and control, strengthen the control of waste emissions including water, gas, and other hazardous substances, and be cautious of business and operation actions that could damage the ecological environment. In 2022, the group's wastewater and gas emissions met the standard rate of 100 percent, with a 100 percent compliance rate for hazardous waste disposal.
The group is also pushing for using environment-friendly materials to minimize pollution, so that the carbon reduction throughout the product life cycle also includes materials. In 2022, its VOCs emission density was 0.0011 tons per million revenue, a 39.71 percent reduction from the base year.
Meanwhile, the continuous upgrade of production techniques and processes, promotion of energy conservation technologies, and advancement of low-carbon technology development are not only playing key roles in improving production efficiency, but also reducing carbon footprint and aims to reach the "dual-carbon" goals.
Calling for the public's participation
SANY has been carrying out training programs and campaigns centered on environmental protection for employees, while further raising community engagement in terms of green, low-carbon, community-friendly, and educational innovation agendas. In 2022, the company employees completed 687.4 hours of volunteer work, and SANY invested 9.75 million yuan in the year to support 15 public welfare projects.
SANY Construction Industry is leading the green technology application in urban infrastructure construction to accelerate the sustainable development of cities and building intelligent cities, green transportation systems, and energy-conserving architectures to reduce energy consumption, improving urban environment quality and people's livelihoods.
In terms of biodiversity and sustainable development, SANY emphasizes the conservation of soil, ocean, crops, and animals to create a better future, and advocates a circular economy to decrease the waste of resources.
In the context of increasingly severe issues of global climate change, SANY, as a leader in the green industry, is committed to promoting sustainable development and actively joining global efforts to address climate change through comprehensive initiatives such as green supply chains, green energy, and carbon emission reduction.
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