Auto giant General Motors announced 14,000 job layoffs on Monday in a bid to cut 15 percent of its workforce to save $6 billion by 2020.
This decision left workers in tears as GM announced 14,000 job layoffs without warning, just before the holidays.
Heartbreaking pictures have emerged that show worker sobbing after the announcement.
‘You’re going right into Christmas. You’re looking for celebration and that’s not there now,’ one GM worker told Today.
Another said: ‘I’m just kind of hurting right now.’
One worker said that she worries for ‘all of the people who have put in so many years of their lives and they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow’.
The company’s CEO, Mary Barra, said in a statement:
‘The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future.’
‘We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.’
GM will shutter seven plants worldwide, including three North American auto assembly plants next year: the Oshawa plant in Ontario, Canada; Hamtramck in Detroit, Michigan, and Lordstown in Warren, Ohio.
President Donald Trump also slammed GM following the company’s decision. He tweeted:
‘Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland. Nothing being closed in Mexico & China. The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get! We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including…. for electric cars.’