GM Workers Face Bleak Future

At the General Motors assembly plant here in Orion, Mich., the chimneys churn out white plumes of smoke and freshly minted Pontiacs G6s and Chevrolet Malibus roll off the assembly line. It's a three-shift, 4,000 worker operation that runs 24 hours a day. But all that could be a memory in a matter of weeks.

GM announced Tuesday that it will seek as much as $18 billion in federal loans over the course of the next four months. Without the money, the world's largest automaker could collapse by the end of the year.

This has GM employee Joel Blatchford and his co-workers understandably on edge.

"It's probably the most frightening time I've ever experienced at GM," says Blatchford, a 23-year veteran of the company. "You work for this many years and you're counting on a future with a pension. You're getting close to paying things off ... and you're seeing the company go through a meltdown."

In order to cut costs, GM says it will shed dealerships and trim down to four main brands - Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Pontiac will become a specialty label. It will also cut its workforce by more than 30,000 jobs in the next three years.

As for layoffs at the Orion factory, plant manager Gary Malkus says cuts are right around the corner. "We have announced that we will have a reduction in line speed in February and hundreds of people will be laid off."

Joel Persinger, a shop committeeman at the plant, compares GM's financial situation to that of a struggling family. "When times tighten up you have to look at what you're spending and cut any costs where you possibly can," he says.

But despite the bleak outlook, Persinger says GM is doing the right thing given the circumstances. "Honestly, I would run my household pretty damn close to what they're doing right now."