General Motors Corp. reported today that it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and make cuts to vehicle production to try to adjust to the much weaker automobile demand.GM said it will decrease 250,000 vehicles from its production schedule for the first quarter of 2009. This includes a cut of 60,000 vehicles announced last week; whereas, normal production would be around 750,000 cars and trucks for the quarter.Many plants will be shut down for all of January,and most likely, the factories will be closed for 30% of the quarter.The change mostly affects GM's plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. During this period, employees will be temporarily laid off and can apply to receive a part of their normal pay from the company. They can also apply for state unemployment benefits. GM and most other automakers in the U.S. are suffering from the worst sales slump since 26 years ago.
GM is asking for government loans to stay in operation beyond the end of the year. The White House said Friday it may tap into its $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund to help GM and Chrysler stay in business after the Senate blocked a measure to provide $14 billion in immediate loans. However, the request failed dramatically late Thursday after Senate Republicans balked at passing the bill without more wage and benefit concessions from auto workers.
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