GM Will Cut 1,200 Jobs in Texas; Low Demand Cited

ARLINGTON, Tex. — General Motors Corp. will cut 1,200 to 1,500 hourly workers who make large, rear-wheel-drive cars, beginning in October.

GM blamed the move on sluggish sales. The company told workers this week that it will cut one of two shifts at the plant that builds Cadillac Fleetwood, Buick Roadmaster and Chevrolet Caprice and Impala SS cars.

The company had said in May that it would phase out those four models at the end of the 1996 model year and shift the plant to production of more popular light truck models.

The decision to end the shift is “really based on market demand,” GM spokeswoman Corby Casler said. In the first five months of 1995, sales of the Impala SS and Caprice are down 30.1% from the year-earlier period, to 33,481, she said. Fleetwood sales have plunged 52.4% to 5,334, and Roadmaster sales are off 30.4% to 10,092.

The exact number of layoffs depends on sales of the cars later in the year, said another GM spokeswoman, Marcia Hall-Jenkins. The plant employs about 3,500 hourly and 200 salaried workers. Any salaried employees who are affected will be placed in other GM plants, Hall-Jenkins said.

Workers were expecting cutbacks and knew that truck production would require a smaller work force.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” said Buddy Stewart, UAW local president. He said the company estimates that about 2,300 workers will be needed to produce sport-utility vehicles such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and the GMC Yukon.

Stewart said he expects that employees taking early retirement or transferring to other GM plants could soften the effects of the cutbacks.

“Everyone will get a job, but I think some people are going to be on unemployment for a while,” Stewart said.

The changeover at the plant reflects a shift in consumer demand to light trucks, including sport-utilities, from cars. GM truck sales have doubled from 1975 to 1994 to nearly 2 million. The company has increased truck production nearly 25% in the past two years.

The Arlington plant is the last builder of GM’s full-frame, rear-wheel-drive sedans, popular as police cars and taxicabs.