General Motors says it has largely completed salaried job cuts in Canada as part of a wider restructuring announced last November.
The layoffs are part of GM’s effort to cut 8,000 positions from its salaried and contract workforce to boost cost efficiencies and prepare for changes in the industry.
The company says it will start to cut 4,300 salaried and contract workers worldwide this week, while 2,200 employees have already taken buyouts and another 1,500 contract workers were let go.
RELATED: Canada auto workers seek boycott of GM vehicles from Mexico
GM Canada spokeswoman Jennifer Wright says the salaried employee reductions in Canada have mostly been accomplished already through voluntary incentivized packages.
Wright says the company expects to have a “modest” number of other salaried reductions completed shortly but declined to provide specifics.
The company said that about 18,000 non-unionized workers across its North American operations were eligible for the buyout package.
RELATED: Politicians promise help for GM workers; stress that saving plant hopeless
The restructuring also includes the planned shutdown of the company’s Oshawa Assembly Plant at a loss of about 2,600 unionized jobs and four other plants in the U.S.
At the time of the announced restructuring, GM had about 2,000 salaried employees in Canada as part of about 50,000 salaried workers in North America.
— With files from Associated Press
The Canadian Press
