By Doug Cunningham

The GM layoffs of roughly 3500 workers at four truck and SUV factories in the U.S. and Canada is the latest blow to autoworkers as the U.S. economy slips into recession. Thanks to UAW contracts, the workers will get supplemental income that together with unemployment benefits will equal about 80 percent of their pay. One shift each is being eliminated at each of the four factories – and that will cut production of GM trucks and SUV’s by about 50,000 this year.