Automaker also wants to renegotiate with CAW to get same deal as Chrysler
General Motors Canada will slash one-half of its workforce by 2014 as part of its restructuring plan, the automaker announced April 27.
The company, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, will reduce its hourly workforce from 10,300 to 4,400 over the next five years.
The company also plans lay off more of its white-collar employees and reduce its dealer network by 42 per cent, from 705 to about 400 by the end of next year.
GM Canada also wants to re-open talks with the Canadian Auto Workers union to get the same deal it reached with Chrysler. The deal, approved by 87 per cent of Chrysler workers, will leave workers' base wages untouched but cuts to workers' benefits will result in a cost savings of $19 an hour.
Some of the savings come from reducing paid relief time, cutting supplementary unemployment benefits, increasing prescription drug fees and eliminating semi-private hospital coverage and the employee car purchase and tuition rebate programs.
In all, the deal should save Chrysler about $240 million a year.
