GM Is Now Detroit’s Smallest Auto-Making Employer

  • Shift reflects plant closures, rising production outside U.S.
  • Forty years ago, GM was single largest private-sector employer
Signage stands on display at the General Motors Co. Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Detroit.Photographer: Anthony Lanzilote/Bloomberg
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General Motors Co. now employs fewer union-represented American workers than its domestic rivals for the first time since the United Auto Workers started organizing Detroit’s carmakers eight decades ago.

GM’s 46,000 UAW workers trails Ford Motor Co. by about 9,000 and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV by roughly 1,200, according to headcounts provided by the companies. Ford surpassed GM in 2014, and Fiat Chrysler overtook the No. 2 spot this year.