GM cutting more white-collar jobs and employee benefits

Back in July, General Motors announced its plan to reduce salary spending by 20% and its white-collar workforce by 15% or 5,100 jobs. Those workers are out of a job on November 1st, but a new round of job cuts means even more empty cubicles for the world's largest automaker. The Detroit News is reporting that GM plans to lay off more white-collar workers despite having already reached its goal of reducing the company's salaried workforce by 5,100 jobs. While a specific number of how many more jobs would be cut wasn't given, a letter sent to GM execs confirms that more pink slips will be handed out by the end of this year and into early 2009. To further reduce spending, GM is also canceling certain employee benefits including its 401k matching program, tuition reimbursement and adoption assistance programs. All of these spending cuts are meant to help GM weather the storm until the auto industry bounces back from its own recession. We're sure that's little consolation to the men and women who are out of a job in the mean time, but with fewer and fewer people buying new cars and trucks, GM has little choice.

[Source: The Detroit News]