General Motors’s South Korean unit has proposed postponing one of two shifts at a plant close to Seoul, an internal union newsletter observed by Reuters showed, boosting uncertainty about the fate of the factory as the U.S. automaker grapples with falling sales.
GM Korea stated on Monday its domestic sales for March more than halved compared to a previous year, deepening a decline in the aftermath of the announcement of scheduled restructuring of the money-losing operation.
The parent company stated in February it would close its factory in the southeastern city of Gunsan and decide on the fate of its three staying plants in South Korea amid increased losses in the country.
“We have to fight so that the future of the No.2 assembly line (in the city of Bupyeong) does not follow that of the Gunsan factory,” union workers at the assembly line said in the newsletter.
The newsletter described the proposal to postpone the second shift at one of two factories in Bupyeong was made on Wednesday, during a meeting with union delegates at the plant.
A GM Korea spokesman stated the firm is thinking about changing a shift system at the plant, but has not yet talked about the matter with the union.
About 2,600 employees at GM Korea, equivalent to about 15 percent of its staff, have applied for a redundancy package that GM has offered as part of restructuring, union officials stated.
