While the news from General Motors this week was troubling, it certainly wasn't surprising. After all, when your company is losing $1.1 billion per quarter, it's probably time to take some action. In hopes of trimming expenses, GM is cutting 25,000 jobs in North American over the next three years. That's a lot of jobs.It's around 16 percent of GM's entire hourly workforce. The job cuts were forced by a number of factors - the rising cost of materials, the cost of health care coverage for employees, the cost of pension obligations, and a loss of market share to Asian-based competitors. GM says the answer is to streamline operations.The streamlining of North American operations will include not only job cuts, but the closing of a number of assembly and component plants. GM hopes the move will save them $2.5 billion a year. I hope GM can turn things around.The last thing we need is the world's largest auto manufacturer going belly up.
GARY GERARD, Times-Union Managing Editor- | July 28, 2016