GM cuts truck shifts to meet lower output target

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp on Monday said it would eliminate shifts at truck plants in Louisiana and Ohio, laying off about 1,760 workers, as part of a series of steps to meet its sharply lower output plans.

GM will eliminate shifts at its Moraine, Ohio, and its Shreveport, Louisiana, plant at the end of September under a plan announced earlier this month to cut truck production by about 300,000 units, spokesman Tony Sapienza said.

Like other U.S. automakers, GM has been hit hard by the downturn in sales of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs in the face of record gasoline prices this year.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner outlined the automaker's stepped-up plans to cut output on July 15 when he announced a restructuring package intended to cut costs by $10 billion by the end of 2009 in order to shore up GM's cash position.

To meet the lowered target, GM told workers on Monday that it would cut a shift at the Moraine, Ohio, plant, which makes the Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy SUVs. The move will mean layoffs for about 1,000 production and salaried jobs at the plant, now scheduled to be closed by 2010.

The Shreveport, Louisiana, plant makes the Hummer H3 SUV and the Chevrolet Canyon compact pickup and will also lose a shift. That move will cut about 760 jobs.

In addition, GM will slow production of Hummer H2 models at a dedicated plant it opened in Indiana for that model in 2002 and also slow production of full-size SUVs and pickup trucks at its plant in Silao, Mexico.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker also told hourly workers at eight plants that those facilities would be shut down for one week to five weeks between now and the end of the year to cut output further.

Taken together, the actions detailed on Monday will cut 117,000 units of light truck production from GM's previous plans for the second half and take its total production cut to "just under the 300,000 unit marker," Sapienza said.

GM's first-half sales in the U.S. market fell 16 percent and it has been under pressure to cut costs and raise capital. The automaker's shares, which touched a 54-year low earlier this month, remain down about 55 percent for the year.

GM, which has lost $51 billion over the past three years as it cut jobs and closed plants, has said it is looking to sell its military-derived Hummer brand as it looks to raise up to $4 billion from asset sales by the end of next year.

(Reporting by Kevin Krolicki, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)