GM Unit Plans to Lay Off 330

A General Motors Corp. unit plans to lay off about 330 workers at its plant here and move its spindle bearing operations to Ohio, officials of New Departure-Hyatt Bearings said.

When the move is completed, about 670 workers will remain at the bearing manufacturing plant in Bristol, where 3,500 people worked just 10 years ago, company officials said Thursday.

The GM subsidiary, which recently phased out 675 jobs after eliminating production of commercial bearings, also may sell its plant here and seek a smaller site, Mayor John J. Leone said.

The move to Sandusky, Ohio, was “purely a business decision,” said Jerome Bishop, director of media relations at the components division. He said the two plants in Sandusky and Bristol gave the company 40% more space than it needed to run the separate spindle bearing operations.

Bishop said there was no guarantee the company, celebrating its 100th anniversary in Bristol this year, would stay in Connecticut.

Bishop said 130 of 330 workers in the spindle bearings operation will be offered jobs in Sandusky. The other 200 workers will be offered a cash settlement, early retirement or placed in a company job bank, which pays workers their full salaries to remain available for spot duty.

New Departure’s decision to move some operations is another blow to an industry beleaguered both in Connecticut and in the United States.