General Motors Co. called back 1,350 union workers, its biggest one-time increase in jobs since 2006, as it boosts second-half production, partly in response to demand from the government's "cash for clunkers" program.
GM will add shifts at the CAMI plant in Ontario, Canada, where the redesigned Chevrolet Equinox and all-new GMC Terrain are built, and Lordstown, Ohio, where it assembles the compact Chevrolet Cobalt, adding back United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers union jobs as sales top expectations. The Ontario plant will be running at full capacity.
"The recession is over," said Erich Merkle, president of consulting firm Autoconomy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "I think we're going to get a bit of a drop-off as cash-for-clunkers runs its course, but I believe it will hand off to an economy that's much stronger."
In all, the production changes add about 60,000 units to GM's fourth-quarter plans, Mark LaNeve, the vice president overseeing U.S. sales, said on a conference call. The company said it will make 642,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, about 20 percent more than in the third quarter. The automaker expects July and August sales to top a previous internal forecast by 60,000 to 70,000 vehicles, he said.
GM has added Friday shifts in Lordstown and in Orion Township, Michigan, where it assembles the Chevrolet Malibu, Chris Lee, a GM spokesman, said yesterday. Those plants had been running four 10-hour days each week.
Adding Production
"We are adding production to almost all of our operations in the United States," Tim Lee, GM group vice president overseeing global manufacturing and labor, said during the call.
GM will delay the idling of its Orion Township plant until the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, he said. The company had planned to stop production there at the end of September until 2011 when it would start making a so-called B-car, similar in size to a Chevrolet Aveo.
GM sales of cars and light trucks in the U.S. fell 19 percent in July, less than the 24 percent drop analysts expected.
