(Reuters) – General Motors will lay off 1,695 workers at its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas, the company said in a worker adjustment and retraining announcement earlier this week.
A GM spokesman, confirming the layoffs originally reported by Automotive News, said the first of two rounds will begin Nov. 18, affecting 686 full-time temporary workers and terminating 250 temporary workers.
During the second phase, which starts on January 12 next year, 759 full-time workers will be temporarily made redundant, the spokesman confirmed.
In May, GM said it would pause production of the Cadillac XT4 after January 2025 in Kansas, resulting in production employee layoffs until production resumes in late 2025 for both the Bolt EV and XT4 on the same assembly line.
“As previously announced in May, GM is investing approximately $390 million in our Fairfax Assembly Plant to add production of the new Chevrolet Bolt EV,” a GM spokesperson said in an email to Reuters on Saturday.
“To facilitate the installation of new tools, employees will be placed on temporary layoff until production resumes in mid-2025,” the spokesman added.
In August, the company also laid off more than 1,000 employees worldwide in its software and services units.
(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in BengaluruEditing by Alistair Bell and Matthew Lewis)