IN THE NEWS - General Motors Announces Plan to Reduce Jobs a

IN THE NEWS - General Motors Announces Plan to Reduce Jobs and Factories
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, November 26, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, General Motors announced a three-year plan to lower its costs. The plan calls for G.M. to reduce its number of workers in North America by thirty thousand. That is a cut of seventeen percent. The company says it will close all or part of twelve factories in the United States and Canada.

Its chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, says the cuts are necessary for the company to compete. General Motors has lost more than four thousand million dollars this year. And that is not its only problem. In October its largest supplier, Delphi, sought protection in bankruptcy¹ court after heavy losses.

General Motors is the largest automobile³ maker⁴ in the world. But the company has struggled against foreign competitors, especially the Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda. Forty years ago, General Motors controlled half the market in the United States. Now it controls one-fourth of it.

G.M. will reduce production to better meet demand. It plans to produce just over four million cars and trucks a year in North America by the end of two thousand eight. That is thirty percent fewer than it built in two thousand two.

 
Operations technicians work on inspection⁵ line at General Motors Saturn⁶ plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee
Industry experts blame the situation in part on poor decisions and vehicle designs that have not been very creative. Other reasons, they say, include costly⁷ health care and retirement⁸ payments.

The new cuts, and measures announced earlier, are expected to lower costs by about seven thousand million dollars next year.

The number of jobs to be lost, thirty thousand, is five thousand higher than Mister Wagoner had announced earlier this year. G.M. officials say they want to reduce employee numbers mainly through retirements⁹.

Still, the United Auto² Workers union calls the cuts unfair. The labor¹⁰ union says it will do everything in its power to enforce job security programs.

Union officials reject the idea that the problems at General Motors are because of high labor costs. Yet, they say, workers and their communities will be the ones who suffer because of the actions announced this week.

The current labor agreement requires General Motors to continue to pay workers even when factories close. And the company cannot permanently¹¹ close factories without union approval. So the factories cannot officially close until the two sides reach an agreement in the next contract talks. Those will take place in two thousand seven.

Some industry experts say the union might not have much choice but to accept the job cuts and factory closings. They say the union has to be careful not to go too far. Too much pressure could send the company into bankruptcy court to seek protection from its creditors¹². Then all agreements with the union would have to be renegotiated.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

5 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

6 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

9 retirements   

退休( retirement的名词复数 )； 退职； 退役； 退休的实例

参考例句：

• We've had two retirements in our office this year. 今年我们办公室已有二人退休。
• Those may take the form of sackings redundancies, temporary layoffs or retirements. 这些形式有开除，作为编余人员，暂时解雇或退休。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

12 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》