General Motors lays off 1,200 workers from its S10 pickup production line

GM will lay off up to 1,200 workers (suspend contracts) at the plant in São Jose dos Campos (SP), and reduce the team that produces the S10 pickup from two jobs to one shift.

The reason is the semiconductor shortage, a problem that has continued to affect the auto industry around the world since the end of last year and tends to persist until at least half of 2022.

The layoffs should last two to five months, says the São José dos Campos Mineral Union. GM says it is discussing with unions alternatives to mitigate the impact and protect jobs.

Only in the production of S10 there are 2,200 workers. In all, the plant that also produces the Trailblazer SUV and engine has 3,800 employees.

General Motors is the fourth automaker in recent weeks to adopt layoffs due to a lack of chips. Prior to this, the Gravataí plant (RS) was closed for about five months, and the São Caetano plant (SP) for two months.

Volkswagen will temporarily lay off 1.5 thousand workers at the Anchieta unit, in São Bernardo do Campo (SP) from November 1, also for a period of two to five months. During this period, the plant will have only one rosette. The company has already had 450 more workers on furlough under this scheme since the start of the pandemic.

Fiat has decided to suspend the contracts of 1.8 thousand workers in Betim (MG) for a period of three months, starting this month. On the other hand, Renault has laid off 300 employees at the São José dos Pinhais (PR) plant. The procedure is valid for five months and began at the end of September.

Renault also opened a voluntary program of redundancy (PDV) for 250 people, the same as Honda’s option in Sumare and Etrapina (SP), but it did not reveal a target for sticking.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, GM said the auto industry’s supply chain has been impacted globally due to production shutdowns during the pandemic and the market is recovering faster than expected.

“This will temporarily affect our production schedule at the São José dos Campos plant and we will have to reduce production to one shift,” the company informed. Today, the company is introducing a new version of the S10 off-roader.

Tomorrow will be gathered

The organization will hold a meeting with workers tomorrow, the 26th, to discuss the matter. The next day, there will be another meeting with GM representatives, who will present the terms and the layoff period.

For a union, any action must be surrounded by job protection and workers’ rights. “We will take this discussion to the assembly,” said the organization’s vice president, Valmir Mariano.