General Motors Corp. will cut about 30,000 jobs, close or significantly curtail operations at 12 plants and cut the amount of vehicles it produces every year by 1 million as it attempts to cut costs by $7 billion.

The troubled automaker also said a recent agreement with the United Auto Workers union will allow it to cut health-care costs by about $3 billion annually.

The plants affected by today's announcement include those in Doraville, Georgia, an Oklahoma City plant that makes mid-size SUVs, and its Lansing Craft Center in Michigan which makes a niche pickup.

To make matters worse, GM's main parts supplier bankrupt Delphi Corp. is battling with its unions and will ask the court to void its labor contracts if a deal is not reached by mid-December. A strike at Delphi could shut down some GM and Delphi plants and could force the automaker to burn through billions of dollars a week.

(Source: Financial Express)