By Mark Bashore, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-842657.mp3
EAST LANSING, MI – General Motors says over 900 of its Lansing employees should prepare for a longer summer layoff.
The automaker has told workers at its Grand River plant that bloated inventories are forcing a four-week extended break from July 13 to August 10. Heidi Magyar is a spokesperson for GM in Lansing: "Gone are those days in the past where you would just produce vehicles and put them on a lot and tell dealers 'we're ready' and then they would take from those inventories. Really our production systems are so lean now that we produce vehicles based upon a direct feed of what is needed in the market."
Workers were already planning on a two-week vacation layoff the two preceding weeks. The plant assembles three Cadillac models---the CTS, the STS and the soon-to-be-released CTS wagon.