GM Holden Cutting More Workers as Oz Sales Slip

GM Holden is laying off more assembly line workers as deliveries of its locally made vehicles continue to shrink in an Australian market on pace for a record sales year.

It is cutting 270 workers May 25 at its plant outside Adelaide in the face of a 17.9% drop in deliveries of its Holden Commodore and a 24.3% fall in sales of its Cruze small car.

The General Motors subsidiary’s March sales fell 13.0% year-on-year to 8,571 units.

News Corp. Australia says production employees will be reduced to 1,260 from 1,530 and vehicle output will be reduced by 50 units to 240 a day. GM is closing the plant in 2017.

A GM Holden spokesman says the aim is for most of the workers facing layoffs to leave voluntarily, adding the automaker has not ruled out further job losses later this year.

“As difficult as this process is, the contraction of the manufacturing will happen on a sliding scale,” the spokesman is quoted as saying. “One of our priorities is to not release everyone onto the job market at the same time.”

GM Holden is offering counseling services, career seminars and computer courses for the departing workers.

“We appreciate the impact decisions like this have on employees and their families,” the automaker says in a news release. “(GM) Holden is committed to supporting staff through this transition process.”

In addition to Holden, Ford and Toyota are terminating their Australian manufacturing operations in 2016 and 2017, respectively.