Appliance Sales Decline, GE to Lay Off 800

General Electric Co. said today that its appliance group, faced with declining sales, will lay off at least 800 workers.

GE Group Executive Roger Schipke said in an interview that the permanent layoffs will be spread through the giant conglomerate’s appliance operations from now through October.

The greatest impact, he said, would be at GE’s big manufacturing plant in Louisville, Ky. The Louisville complex, which produces laundry equipment and refrigerators, is GE’s headquarters for major appliances.

“We have to go further in cutting costs than we ever dreamed we’d have to in a short period of time,” Schipke said.

Unsold Appliances

He said GE has a warehouse full of unsold appliances at the Louisville complex and “we even have some in public warehouses.”

GE’s action comes after major layoff announcements at Eastman Kodak & Co. and Campbell Soup Co.

Kodak said Wednesday that it would cut 4,500 jobs, or around 3% of its work force. Campbell on Thursday said that it would slash 2,800 jobs, or nearly 6% of its staff.

The precise number of job cuts at GE will not be known until this month’s sales figures are in, Schipke said. But the figures “look weaker than July’s,” he said.

Union Workers on List

Among the 800 to lose their jobs, 500 will be union workers and the remainder will be salaried staff.

The Louisville appliance complex has 12,800 workers, 9,000 of whom are union employees. In 1973, a peak year for appliance sales, total employment at Louisville was 23,000.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based GE has a staff of about 298,000.

Although the company is involved in aircraft engines, aerospace, plastics, medical systems and broadcasting through its National Broadcasting Co. subsidiary, the name GE represents household appliances to many consumers.

GE last May said it would phase out 400 jobs in oven-range production at Louisville in the next few years.