(New York) The American car manufacturer General Motors (GM), which seeks to save money, has proposed a vast plan of voluntary departures for which it plans to pass on its accounts a charge of up to 1.5 billion dollars.
The group announced in January that it wanted to reduce its fixed costs by $2 billion a year over the next two years. His boss, Mary Barra, said at the time that she was not planning any layoffs, but wanted to use the departures to manage the total workforce.
On Thursday, GM offered to compensate certain categories of employees who leave voluntarily: employees paid a fixed salary, as opposed to workers paid by the hour, who have worked for more than five years in the company in the United States and executives who have worked for the group for more than two years outside the United States.
The charge that the group intends to register in its accounts will depend on the number of employees agreeing to leave, specifies the group in a stock exchange document. Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson declined to specify whether the company was targeting a specific number of people.
According to its annual report, the group had 58,000 fixed salary employees in the United States and 23,000 outside the United States at the end of 2022.
THE wall street journal reported in early March that the group had laid off 500 people following performance reviews.
The major American manufacturers are currently facing several challenges ranging from difficulties in supplying semiconductors since 2021 to the need to invest billions for the transition to electric.
Due to demand outstripping supply for the past three years, they were able to raise their prices and made significant profits.
But even if some logistical challenges persist, the supply of cars is starting to pick up in the United States. At the same time, rising interest rates increase the cost of buying a car.
“By permanently reducing fixed costs, we can improve vehicle profitability and stay nimble in an increasingly competitive market,” GM said Thursday.
Invoking the transition to electric, Ford announced in February the elimination of 3,800 jobs in Europe by 2025 after announcing last August the elimination of around 3,000 jobs mainly in North America and India.