GM Plans to Adopt Voluntary Early Retirement Program Next Year

GM Korea is going to adopt a voluntary early retirement program targeting its non-assembly line workers the first quarter of next year. 

According to sources at the company, the early retirement proposal was first brought about by GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha during a regular web chat with employees on December 16.

This year, Chevrolet models secured only 1 percent share in the European market, which caused GM to announce recently that it will not sell Chevrolet cars in Europe starting from 2016. 

The announcement led to suspicion that the carmaker may scale down its car production to 650,000 units in 2015, down from around 800,000 units this year, which would naturally bring in a layoff. 

CEO Sergio Rocha said that the program will be announced formally after talks with the company’s union, stressing that if the retirement program is implemented, it will be carried out strictly on an individual employee’s voluntary basis without any pressure from the management. 

An official of the company said workers from the assembly line will not be subject to the program and that the company is making every effort to enter untapped overseas markets while bolstering the US-based carmaker’s presence in Korea. 

GM Korea had released workers twice in 2012 on voluntary retirement programs due to slow sales of Chevrolet cars both at home and abroad.