FILE - In this March 14, 2014 photo, assembly line workers build a 2015 Chrysler 200 automobile at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Sterling Heights, Mich. Lured by low wages and tax-saving free trade agreements, auto companies from the U.S. and overseas are accelerating plans to build new factories and add jobs in Mexico. The moves, part of a decade-long trend, are luring investments and work that could have gone to the U.S. and Canada, according to experts. But they also are likely to keep car and truck prices in check even as automakers add expensive fuel-saving features to meet U.S. gas mileage requirements. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — – The Venezuelan unit of General Motors is firing 13 percent of its workforce as a shortage of dollars idle assembly lines across the oil-rich South American country.
Autoworker union representatives said Tuesday that an arbitration panel had given GM permission to lay off 446 employees at its factory in the coastal city of Valencia. GM did not comment.
The industry's entire 10,000-strong workforce is at risk as carmakers struggle to obtain from the government hard currency needed to import parts. Ford in January became the latest company to write off its investment, taking an $800 million charge on the country's currency woes.
Car production last year fell 72 percent to under 20,000 units compared with eight times that amount in 2007.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter & Instagram
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.