Temporary GM Shutdown Could Be Imminent

Company plans for slow summer

As General Motors faces the possibility of bankruptcy, the company says there may be a nine-week GM shutdown starting as soon as next month.

The automaker might close down several plants for nine weeks. An overabundance of inventory plus typically slow summer sales are causing GM to consider ceasing production for a couple of months.

Not very hush hush

Sources who have talked to newspapers regarding the imminent GM shutdown has asked to remain anonymous because GM workers haven’t been told about the shutdown yet.

Thousands of workers will be laid off if the GM shutdown goes through. however, the employees won’t miss out on much pay. The United Auto Workers union is required to make up most of the difference in salary between GM paychecks and unemployment insurance. So for the nine weeks that production is halted GM workers should be able to get by without payday loans or credit cards.

Summer slowdown

Usually GM shuts down most of its plants for about two weeks during the summer. Plants stop operating in between switching over to building new models. The GM shutdown this year would occur around the same time, it would just be longer.

Outside GM

GM is hoping that an extended shutdown will help reduce the growing stockpile of vehicles it has at the moment. However, auto parts makers could stand to lose a lot of critical revenue if the country’s largest automaker ceases production for nine weeks.

“It’s one of those things we’ve been dreading for a long time,” said Jim Gillette, director of financial services at auto-industry consultant CSM Worldwide in Grand Rapids. “It’s as bad as its ever been.” ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Temporary GM Shutdown Could Be Imminent"