Workers Protest Cutbacks at GM : Economy: Some union members contend that the auto maker is gradually phasing out operations at its Van Nuys plant.
About two dozen General Motors employees gathered outside the headquarters of United Auto Workers Local 645 in Van Nuys on Thursday to urge GM to stop what they contend is a gradual phasing out of operations at the Van Nuys plant.
“We’re here today to express our anger,” said Mark Masaoka, a GM electrician and unit chairman of Local 645. Masaoka and other GM workers represent a splinter group of the union local that has been more vocal in its criticism of the Detroit auto maker.
The Van Nuys plant, which employs about 2,700 workers, down from about 3,200 last year, has produced cars on about 25 days since Dec. 17 because GM has periodically closed the plant to reduce its stockpile of unsold cars.
The plant, built in 1947, is GM’s sole source for the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. It is the last auto factory in Southern California and one of only two in the state. Sales of Camaros and Firebirds peaked in 1978 when 477,110 of the cars were sold. Last year, only 116,179 were sold.
Next week, GM plans to take more serious steps to cut its Van Nuys production. The auto maker is eliminating the second shift at the plant.
About 650 workers will be indefinitely laid off when the shift shuts down, union officials said. That figure is down from the 850 layoffs the company originally expected because sales have rebounded slightly since the end of the Persian Gulf War.
Workers at Thursday’s gathering expressed concern that the $3.3-billion fund that GM has set aside to pay idled workers up to 95% of their normal take-home pay will not last until the GM-UAW contract expires in September, 1993.
With about 40,000 GM workers furloughed and more layoffs possible in the near future, Masaoka said, the fund will be depleted more rapidly than it has in past months and will probably run out before the contract ends.
GM spokesman John Maciarz, said the employee fund is “in good financial condition.” However, he said anything is possible and that he could not guarantee that funds would be available through the end of the contract.
GM has also said that in the fall of 1992, it is moving production of the Camaro and Firebird to Canada. The auto maker has not made public any plans to build another model at Van Nuys.
Masaoka and others charged Thursday that GM’s lack of commitment to bring another model to Van Nuys means that the plant is scheduled for permanent closure.
“This is an orphan plant and we’re building an orphan model,” Masaoka said.
Jake Flukers, a GM millwright and vice president of Local 645, said a rally is being planned for Memorial Day Weekend in front of the plant to protest its possible shuttering.
