General Motors Corp.

General Motors Corp. has notified state officials that it will lay off an additional 96 employees from the Janesville assembly plant as a result of a further "deterioration in consumer demand" for the pickup trucks and SUVs it produces. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, the automaker said the lay-offs will begin soon. Recently, GM announced that it was eliminating one shift of production at the plant, resulting in the loss of 756 jobs. The plant, which has about 2,800 employees, will eventually be closed in 2010 as GM moves toward the production of more fuel-efficient vehicles. The workers to be laid off are members of the United Auto Workers.