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General Motors to Close Baltimore Assembly Plant Next Year
PONTIAC, Mich. -- The discontinuance of the Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari next year means the General Motors assembly plant in Baltimore will close as well, GM officials announced yesterday. GM currently employs approximately 1,000 hourly and 100 salaried employees at the Baltimore plant. The United Auto Workers/GM National Agreement provides a comprehensive plan and provisions for the GM employees affected by the decision. UAW Local 239 represents the plant's hourly work force. In addition, management will work with affected salaried employees to pursue opportunities at other GM locations, officials said."Long-term market softening and the products' lifecycle have driven GM to make this difficult yet necessary decision," said Joe Spielman, GM vice president and general manager of Vehicle Manufacturing. "GM can no longer justify building these two products at volumes that are significantly below the plant's capacity." General Motors today announced that its Chevy Astro and GMC Safari will be discontinued in 2005. As a consequence, the company's Baltimore, Md. assembly plant, which exclusively builds the Chevy Astro and GMC Safari, will also close in 2005. With the Astro and Safari reaching the end of their lifecycles, GM management initiated several production changes over the last several years to better align production at the plant with market demand for the Astro and Safari. These decisions included eliminating the plant's second shift of production in the summer of 2000 and slowing production output on several occasions, officials said. The Chevy Astro and GMC Safari were introduced in the 1985 model year. During the first 10 months of this year, production at Baltimore amounted to approximately 41,000 vehicles.The Baltimore Assembly plant sits on 182 acres and consists of approximately 3.2 million square feet. It opened in 1935 and originally produced a variety of Chevrolet cars and trucks. In 1984, the facility was converted for production of the Astro and Safari. GM officials also reaffirmed that the company will maintain a significant presence in the greater Baltimore area through its transmission plant in White Marsh, Md. General Motors Corp., the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, employs about 325,000 worldwide."