HTN: GM Tonawanda to Closefor Extra Week

The GM engine plant in Tonawanda will stop production for an additional week next month. That means the factory will grind to a halt for a total of five weeks. Production was halted at the beginning of this week as part of a two week seasonal closure planned each year. The lines will fire up for one on July 13th before stopping the 20th as per the latest announcement. The additional closure is because of the company's adjusted schedule for a plant in Ohio.

Hometown: More Layoffs Loom, but Engine Plant Stays Open

Workers at the GM engine plant in Tonawanda are gearing up for layoffs, a day after General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection. The plant manager in Tonawanda says 25 to 30-percent of the nearly 900 workforce at the site could face pink slips. GM is phasing out two engines built in Tonawanda, and already has 360 hourly workers on layoff. The automaker plans to close several assembly and stamping plants in the effort to reemerge as a smaller, leaner company.

Hometown News: GM Files for Bankruptcy

General Motors officially filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning. The nation's largest automaker will be receiving another 30-billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury as part of its filing. The government will have over 50-billion dollars invested in the automaker. The American and Canadian governments will own 72-percent of the company. Meanwhile, a bankruptcy judge has approved the deal allowing Chrysler LLC to sell most of its assets to Italian automaker Fiat.

HTN: GM Dealers Await Fate

General Motors Corp. dealers across the nation are awaiting word from the company on whether they will be fired. GM says it will notify 1,100 U.S. dealers today that their franchise agreements will not be renewed.

HTN: GM Plant Gets Extended Break

LanThe GM plant in Tonawanda will be on an extended summer break. It's among 23 plants to be temporarily closed either completely or in-part for several weeks because vehicle plants they serve are going to be idled as well. The closures will come about sometime in June and last between two and six weeks. Tonawanda's engine plant serves plants in Shreveport, Louisiana; Lordstown, Ohio; Flint, Michigan and Detroit/Hamtramck, Michigan.

HTN: GM Tonawanda Workers Take Buyouts

General Motors workers are taking buyouts at the company's Tonawanda engine plant. About 64 employees have accepted the latest buyout offer, while about another hundred have submitted their approval paperwork. GM says about 75-hundred union members have applied for the buyouts.

HTN: GM Chair Talks Tonawanda

The chairman of General Motors says he is optimistic about the future of the company's plant in Tonawanda. Richard Wagoner told reporters Tuesday there are no plans to shutter at the site. The Tonawanda facility employs about 13-hundred people, but 400 have been laid off because of the slowing auto industry. Wagoner says while he's confident in the Tonawanda plant, it may be run far differently in the future as the industry seeks to turn around. The GM chairman suggested a two-tier employment system where the company could hire many workers in boom times and more easily let them go as numbers decline.

Hometown News: GM Make Take Over Delphi

GM is considering a takeback of its former parts subsidiary Delphi Corp., including its plant in Lockport. GM is worried that its own plants might have to be shut down if Delphi runs short of cash and can no longer supply parts.

HTN: More Layoffs at GM Tonawanda

More bad news for General Motors workers in Tonawanda. The company has announced 65 more layoffs at the engine plant. This is due to production cuts previously announced for the assembly plant in Ohio. The latest round of pink slips bring the layoffs at the Tonawanda facility to more than 400 hourly workers.

HTN: More GM Layoffs Could Impact Tonawanda Plant

Workers at General Motors' Tonawanda engine plant are waiting anxiously to hear how the latest round of production cuts at GM assembly plants will affect them. Tonawanda supplies several other plants affected by the cuts, as GM announced two-thousand layoffs in Ohio and Michigan. Nine plants will be shutdown over the next six months, on an alternating basis, in response to slow sales. About one-third of the 1,165-member Tonawanda plant are already on "indefinite layoff."