GM to add 750 jobs to Flint, Michigan plant

General Motors plans to add 750 jobs at its Flint Assembly, Michigan to produce Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty pickups.

The shift is expected to start in the third quarter with employees starting to arrive at Flint Assembly in the second quarter, the carmaker said in a statement.

Adding a third shift is a response to customer demand for heavy-duty pickups, which most people use to tow, haul and plow, said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America.

Equally importantly, it brings jobs and a needed economic boost to the Flint area.

Northwest of Detroit, Flint was GM's original home, but later become a by-word for the US auto sector's decline as manufacturing jobs shifted to Mexico and beyond.

Currently, the plant employs 2,100 hourly and salaried employees and operates two production shifts. In 2010 the plant produced 115,000 trucks, the majority of them regular and crew-cab versions of the heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra.

Adding the third shift allows us to call back some former Flint Assembly workers and provide employment for others who have been laid off, UAW Local 598 Chairman Dana Rouse said.

Initial openings will be filled by recalled laid off Flint Assembly employees currently working at other facilities, primarily in Lansing. Remaining openings will be filled by laid-off employees in the area, including those from Orion, Willow Run and Warren in accordance with the UAW GM National Agreement, the statement said.

No new employees are expected to be hired, it added.

The auto major was left reeling under the industry slump when the global economic crisis hit. It received 49.5 billion dollars from the US Treasury and emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in 2009. It successfully returned to public trading in November 2010 by raising 23.1 billion dollars in an initial stock offering - the largest in history.