GM Furloughs 6,200 but Recalls 2,200 at Van Nuys

Despite furloughing 6,200 workers nationwide, General Motors Co. said today that it will recall about 2,200 workers from indefinite layoff at its assembly plant in Van Nuys.

The No. 1 auto maker said the 2,200 Van Nuys workers are being brought back to take over for production lost due to the Aug. 26 closing of GM’s Norwood, Ohio, facility near Cincinnati.

The Van Nuys plant, which makes the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, will be idle from April 30 to May 8 to reduce inventory of those unsold cars, said Nettie Seabrooks, a spokeswoman for GM’s Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada group.

No Van Nuys Layoffs

No Van Nuys workers will be laid off during the shutdown because they will be in a training program, the company said.

At the same time, GM said it will temporarily lay off more than 6,200 workers as it converts assembly plants to make new models and adjusts its production to meet slumping auto sales.

About 700 workers at the company’s Leeds, Mo., plant will be placed on indefinite layoff as the company reduces the number of Chevrolet Cavalier, Buick Skyhawk and Oldsmobile Firenza models it makes.

Layoffs Temporary

The Leeds plant also will be idle from April 27 to May 11 as the company reduces inventory of unsold cars, resulting in a temporary layoff of 2,000 employees, GM said.

GM said it also will place about 2,000 workers at its Arlington, Tex., plant on temporary layoff beginning May 8 when the company ceases production of its 1987 models and converts the plant to full-size passenger cars. Production is expected to resume in the fall, Seabrooks said.

The company will idle about 2,200 workers beginning May 15 at its Doraville, Ga., plant, which is being converted to make GM’s new GM-10 mid-size cars. Production also will resume in the fall.