GM Preparing Big Detroit Jobs Announcement

by Jeff Gilbert
WWJ AutoBeat Reporter

General Motors is expected to announce today that it's bringing more work and more jobs to its Detroit Hamtramck Plant.

GM will only call this a "positive news announcement."  But, it's been widely reported that the company will build the next generation Chevy Impala at the plant.  That's expected to mean a new shift, and between one and two thousand more jobs.

GM has about 1300 workers on layoff.  They will be the first to get any new jobs, before the company does new hiring.  GM has yet to announce how people can apply for new jobs.

We'll learn more details when GM North America President Mark Reuss attends a Wednesday morning news briefing at the plant.

This is all part of GM's announcement earlier this month of a multi-billion dollar investment, in 17 states, with four thousand new or retained jobs.

The Detroit-Hamtramck plant has been working well under capacity, with workers on one shift building the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne big cars, along with a limited number of Chevrolet Volt's.

Work has already begun to adapt the plant to build more Volts.  It's also being readied to build Chevy Malibu's, if GM needs to add production.

The DTS and Lucerne are expected to be phased out before the Impala begins production, most likely in 2013.  Both vehicles have seen fairly weak sales.

About 1100 workers are currently employed at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant.

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