GM TO ELIMINATE 30,000 JOBS AND CLOSE NINE PLANTS

Oh yes, capitalism at it's "best"... Give me a Break

I guess profits trump a family's welfare.

General Motors CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner announces plans to close four U.S. assembly plants. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. will eliminate 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand.

The announcement Monday by Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world's largest automaker, represents 5,000 more job cuts than the 25,000 that the automaker automaker had previously indicated it planned to cut. GM said the plants that will close are in Oklahoma City, Lansing, Mich., Spring Hill, Tenn., Doraville, Ga., and Ontario, Canada. Wagoner said GM also will close three service and parts operations facilities.

"The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work," Wagoner told employees. "But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible."

GM said the plan is to achieve $7 billion in cost reductions on a running rate basis by the end of 2006 — $1 billion above its previously indicated target. The number of job cuts also was above earlier estimates. GM said earlier this year it planned to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008, mostly through attrition.