GM appoints new CFO; workers storm British plant
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By TERRY WEBER
Globe and Mail Update and Reuters
General Motors Corp. said Wednesday it has appointed a new chief financial officer in the wake of a wide-sweeping corporate restructuring and warnings that profits won't live up to expectations.
John Devine, 56, will officially step into the job Jan. 1, although he will start work at the automaker immediately. Mr. Devine replaces J. Michael Losh, who retired Sept. 1.
Mr. Devine is now chairman and chief executive of Fluid Ventures, an e-business venture services firm with offices in San Francisco and New York.
He spent over 30 years working for Ford Motor Co. and was CFO there starting in 1994. Mr. Devine left Ford in September 1999 following a management shake-up saying he wanted "wider responsibilities" elsewhere.
"Because of his intimate knowledge of the industry, he will be able to contribute immediately," GM president and chief executive Rick Wagoner said in a statement. "He has operated at the highest levels of the auto industry and worked in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America."
"He not only has broad financial experience, but also has had significant operational duties that brought him in close contact with product-development and marketing activities."
Mr. Devine's appointment caps a rocky few days for the automaker, which has been battered by market share losses here and abroad. On Tuesday, GM announced it would end production of its Oldsmobile line and cut the number of salaried employees in North America and Europe by 10 per cent. It also warned that profit would be less than forecast.
Meanwhile, GM employees in Britain reacted angrily to Tuesday's developments. Furious workers at General Motors' Vauxhall subsidiary on Wednesday forced their way into the headquarters building at the Luton plant, where the company has announced that car production will cease.
A group of up to 200 workers chanting "Judas" demanded to speak to Chief Executive Nick Reilly after an unofficial walkout from their production line jobs.
The plant closing, which GM said stems from overcapacity in the European car market, will mean the loss of 2,000 jobs.
Mr. Reilly emerged to placate the workers, but was heckled by the angry crowd despite trying to explain that there would be other job vacancies in the company.
"First of all you don't know if you have lost your job. There are 1,000 jobs," he said. "I have been fighting to keep this plant open."
He was interrupted by a woman worker who yelled: "I swear to God I will never, ever buy another Vauxhall car."
Mr. Reilly then withdrew into the headquarters building.
"The mood is very angry, very angry indeed," said Jimmy Hughes of the Transport and General Workers Union.
"We had to hear from the media what was going on with our jobs. They haven't even got the bottle [courage] to come out here and tell us anything."
The announcement from GM in Detroit is the latest bad news for British autoworkers, who have faced layoffs for much of the past year as car firms try to stem their losses.
The end of carmaking at Ford Motor Co.'s Dagenham plant east of London in 2002 will scrap another 2,000 jobs.
Mr. Hughes said he was bitter that the closing was announced shortly before the Luton plant's Christmas shutdown.
"We had a Yank on the television yesterday telling us from Detroit that we are shut down. He doesn't even know where Luton is," Mr. Hughes told Sky television news.
The GM move also deals a blow to the economy at Luton, just north of London. Vauxhall is one of the town's biggest employers.
Under GM's global restructuring plan, about 5,000 jobs are to be cut over the next 18 months in Europe, where the carmaker is facing price pressure and has lost market share as buyers shift to smaller vehicles.
Some 500 Luton jobs were likely to be transferred to GM's nearby IBC van plant, which would continue to make Vauxhall's medium-duty van, the Vivaro, and the Frontera off-road vehicle.
The British government has said it will set up "rapid response units" offering advice on retraining car workers and loans for those wanting to set up their own businesses. |
