General Motors Corp., extending its cuts in light-truck production, will eliminate almost 1,100 jobs at an Ontario pickup plant in January as rising fuel prices and competition hurt sales, Bloomberg News reported. The move to cut one of three shifts at the Oshawa factory follows a decision last week to end overtime for the rest of 2007 at six pickup and sport-utility vehicle plants, spokesman Tom Wickham said last week. Under union rules, the workers still will be paid a majority of their salary, he said. The automaker is offering no-interest loans for as long as five years, rebates as high as $4,000 and extra bonuses to dealers on light trucks after sales fell in July, including a 29% drop for Chevrolet Silverado large pickups, Bloomberg said. Mark LaNeve, North American sales chief for GM, said last week that light-truck sales improved in August with the rebates, according to Bloomberg. L&MT
