March 7 (UPI) — General Motors announced plans Monday to lay off 1,100 workers at its plant in Lansing, Mich., where production of the GMC Arcadia will be phased out in May.
A new version of the Arcadia is being built in Spring Hill, Tenn.
The Lansing Delta Township plant, which opened in 2006, still makes the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave.
Because of the reduced work, the third shift will be eliminated, Erin Davis, GM’s Lansing spokeswoman, said in a statement.
The plant employs 3,144 workers. The affected workers received 60-day layoff notices Monday.
The company has invested $583 million in the plant since 2014. A white Saturn Outlook was the first vehicle produced at the plant, first rolling off the line in May of 2004. Saturn is no longer produced by GM.
GM has been eliminating third shifts in other places, also.
In late January, GM eliminated the third shift at the nearby Lansing Grand River plant and the Lordstown, Ohio, plant. The layoffs, announced in November, were the first U.S. job cuts announced by GM since 2010.
In December, GM announced plans to eliminate the third shift at the Detroit Hamtramck plant, its only remaining factory within Detroit city limits.
In all, the layoffs will total 4,400. The company had 105,000 workers at end of last year, compared with 97,000 in 2015.
Also Monday, GM announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Opel/Vauxhall subsidiary in Europe to France’s PSA Group for $2.2 billion.
President Donald Trump has urged automakers to build more cars in the country and not build them in Mexico.
In January, GM said it expects to add about 1,000 employees in the next few years and will invest more than $1 billion expanding its U.S.-based operations.
The No. 1 U.S. automaker has spent $5 billion on plants in Mexico since 2012.
