GM Lay-Offs Continue to Rise

10/24/96

The CAW has negotiated a tentative agreement with GM Canada, its strike is officially over, and Canadian Auto Workers were scheduled to start returning to their assembly lines after they voted on whether or not to ratify the new contract. Auto parts have not started to come out of Canada again yet, however, and the workers GM laid off in response to parts shortages resulting from the Canadian walk-out won't be back at work until the supply of parts they work with resumes.

Reuters reported that, as of Tuesday afternoon, GM had laid off 19,931 workers in the United States and Mexico, 1,560 more workers than they had laid off by Monday. 1,219 of the workers sent home on Tuesday were employed by GM's Delphi Automotive Systems unit, while 341 of them worked for an engine plant in Livonia, Mich.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, GM said: "A tentative agreement was reached this afternoon between the Canadian Auto Workers and General Motors of Canada. However, we cannot speculate on when workers in the U.S. and Mexico will return to their operations. In addition we cannot speculate on additional facilities that could be affected by the work stoppage in Canada. It will depend on how soon GM of Canada is able to get their plants back in operation after ratification."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel