GM Expected to Voice Bold Plan to Cut Up to 60,000

DETROIT —  General Motors Corp. could announce up to 60,000 job cuts Tuesday as part of an aggressive strategy to return its money-losing North American auto operations to profitability, analysts said.

A spokesman for the world’s largest auto maker declined to give details, but analysts said investors have nudged GM’s shares higher in anticipation of a bold statement on Nov. 16. GM’s stock last week hit a 52-week high of $51.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.

“There’s some anticipation building,” said Salomon Bros. auto analyst Jack Kirnan. “I think the feeling is management will be very aggressive and very forthright in convincing the skeptics who somehow doubt that GM has a game plan to restructure itself.”

With a recently ratified wage pact, GM may go forward with specific targets for trimming jobs and accelerating pension fund payments to reduce a $24-billion pension liability, analysts said.

GM lost $4.5 billion last year in North America and has been struggling to reduce capacity and make a profit.

Analysts said GM could announce a new early retirement program for 1994 and a plan to cut its hourly American work force by another 60,000 by 1996. The company already has plans underway to trim 75,000 workers.

“Two months ago when you talked about having to reduce head count by 60,000, they were much more emphatic about not talking about that number,” said Bear, Stearns & Co. auto analyst Matthew Stover. “Now it’s actually falling into conversation.”