Eastern Michigan staggered by an estimated 6,600 GM job losses!

DETROIT, Michigan - June 1, 2009 - Oakland County is taking a major hit in General Motors Corp.'s restructuring in bankruptcy, with an estimated 6,600 of the 8,900 factory jobs lost in Michigan based in the affluent county north of Detroit.

But one of the plants to be idled, in Orion Township, is in the running to build a small car in the future, said GM spokesman Chris Lee. The Orion site currently assembles the mid-size Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6.

"It's a real sad day," said UAW Local 549 President Doug Bowman in Pontiac. Workers at Pontiac Assembly, which makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, were told by plant officials at 8:15 a.m. the 3.4 million-square-foot plant will close in October or possibly sooner, Bowman said. In reality, the workers may have just a few weeks in the plant. The plant already is slated to be idled for five weeks starting June 11 to reduce inventory. The Pontiac Stamping plant, originally opened in 1926, has been put on standby capacity and will be idled December 2010.

"We've been on pins and needles for so long and it's been really tough," Bowman said.

In total, GM plans to permanently shutter nine additional U.S. plants and idle three more to slash production and labor costs as part of the automaker's court-ordered restructuring.

Seven facilities in Michigan are on the list released today. They include five sites to be permanently closed: Pontiac, Grand Rapids, Livonia, Flint and Ypsilanti Township. The Orion Township plant will shut down production in September and go on standby. The Orion plant employs 3,800. Along with the Orion site, plants in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Janesville, Wisconsin could be tapped to build a small car in the future, said GM's Lee.

The downsizing will lower the total number of GM assembly, powertrain and stamping facilities in the United States from 47 at the end of 2008 to 34 by the end of next year. In 2012, there will be 33 facilities.

The moves are part of GM's historic restructuring, which will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by the end of next year.