Photo Gallery
General Motors history in black and white
Black and white images from GM's long history in Janesville
General Motors history in black and white
Black and white images from GM's long history in Janesville
Second-shift workers at General Motors in Janesville work their way into the plant Thursday for what was the last day of two-shift production at the facility.
JANESVILLE — Second-shift workers at General Motors in Janesville worked their way into the plant Thursday for what was the last day of two-shift production at the facility.
In late April, GM said it would cut second-shift production in Janesville and layoff more 750 workers because of a consumer shift away from large trucks to smaller more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers.
The layoff estimate was later revised to affect about 850 workers.
A few weeks later, the automaker announced plans to end production at the plant by the end of 2010 at the latest.
After Thursday’s second shift ended, workers left for an annual two-week corporate shutdown, which GM earlier this week extended by two weeks.
About 1,200 hourly employees are scheduled to return to work July 28.
GM also announced an additional 10 weeks of production downtime that will run through the end of 2008.
Noting a visit he made to the Janesville plant earlier this year, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama asked the head of GM on Thursday what he could do to preserve the U.S. auto industry if elected.
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