GM – Brazil: Extending Voluntary Layoffs

The Brazilian unit of General Motors Co. (GM) said Friday that it is prolonging a voluntary layoff program at one factory and expanding the program to a second Brazil factory.

GM said in a statement that it will accept volunteers until July 2 at its Sao Jose dos Campos factory to have their contracts bought out. The original program, announced June 6, was set to end June 15. Brazil’s third-largest auto maker by sales said Friday it also will seek volunteers at its Sao Caetano do Sul plant.

The program at Sao Caetano do Sul was in response to requests from the workers union, GM said.

Aparecido Inacio da Silva, president of the auto workers union at Sao Caetano do Sul, told Dow Jones Newswires that older workers were seeking to leave the company early and asked for the voluntary layoff program to be extended to them. Mr. Silva said he asked GM to institute the program on the condition that the vacated posts be filled by new hires.

GM said in a note this month, when it announced the Sao Jose dos Campos layoff program, that it decided to open the program there “based on the intense competitiveness of the Brazilian vehicle market, in addition to growing costs of labor, raw materials and supplies in general. GM believes that, with this measure, it will be able to reach the structural adjustment that is adequate to its current production program.”..

via GM to Extend Voluntary Layoffs at Brazil Automobile Factories | Fox Business.