GM CEO Mary Barra has said nothing on social media since her company announced it was axing 14,000 jobs weeks before the holidays

As thousands of General Motors workers wept at the news that they would no longer have jobs this week, there was a deafening silence from the company which for decades has been a symbol of the American Dream.

GM announced in an emotionless press release on Monday that it would be closing five plants across North America in 2019 because it would no longer produce six models of cars.

The result is that 14,000 jobs will no longer exist. Some of the workers are going to have the option to relocate but others won't.

Suddenly daunted by the question of if they would ever find work again much less how they would pay for the looming holidays, the workers have hit back angrily.

President Trump has reacted furiously, demanding that the company open another plant 'quickly' to offset the hemorrhaging of staff.

But one person who has said nothing throughout the debacle is the company's multi-millionaire CEO and chairman, Mary Barra.

Once an avid tweeter who regularly praised her 'open and inclusive' company, Barra, 56, has been quiet on social media for a month.

Among her last messages was one which called for congress to support the development of self-driving cars.

It is one of the many, modern things she is keeping in mind with her drastic restructuring of the 110-year-old company.

Barra became CEO in 2014 and has served as Chairman of the GM Board of Directors since 2016.

President Trump tweeted his outrage over the decision. He has threatened to cut the company's subsidies in response

Barra is pictured with President Trump in March 2017, before her plan to close the plants was unveiled

Last year, she was paid $21.9million in stocks and compensation including a $2.1million salary and a $4.96million.

It was a reduction from her take-home pay of $22.58 million in 2016. She also owns around $19million in shares.

While Barra's vision for the company is new, she is not.

She has been with General Motors since 1980 and at one time was the manager of the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly, one of the plants that is closing.

She attended what was formerly known as the General Motors Institute at Kettering University and studies in its Pontiac Motor Division.

After graduating in 1985, she took a job as its an acting superintendent in the maintenance and tooling division.

In 1988, three years after taking her first job, she left to attend Stanford Business School and returned as a manager in the midsize car division.

In later years, Barra served as an executive assistant to the then chairman John F. Smith Jr.

She was the Plant Manager at the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly for a year between 2003 and 2004.

Since then, she has held executive roles in the company's manufacturing, human resources, product development divisions.

Crucially, she has seen it come close to bankruptcy and has watched as it received a government bailout in 2009.

In October last year, Barra announced her vision for the company: Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion. At its forefront then were self-driving cars and they remain at one of the key factors in the recently-announced layoffs.

General Motors workers cry at a union meeting in Oshawa, Ontario, on November 26 after learning of the planned plant closures

One of the plants that is going to be shuttered was where Barra worked as a manager for a year between 2003 and 2004. She has been with the company since the 1980s and has risen through its ranks after going to its college

GM did not phrase them as such in its announcement on Monday and instead described it as them 'accelerating' its 'transformation'.

Barra gave a statement which accompanied the press release.

It read: 'The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future.

'We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.'

GM's Board of Directors has 12 people on it.

The majority of the company is owned by 1,339 institutions which own 77 percent of its $51.billion total worth.

Barra herself is a large individual shareholder, owning 520,608 shares. As of Wednesday, they were worth $19.3million.

GM's share price jumped after the announcement on Monday and has continued to perform well since

Since the announcement sent shock waves through North America, Wall Street has come to her defense.

'Mary Barra is not a politician. She is the CEO of a public company. President Trump has never had such a role.

'Being accountable s what Mary Barra has to do to her shareholders and her stakeholders.

'She is certainly not trying to antagonize the president but she doesn't want to go the way of Sears.

'She's trying to be in front of it,' Yale School of Management senior associate and Dean for Leadership Studies Jeff Sonnenfeld told CNBC on Wednesday.

The plant closures are driven by plummeting car sales in old fashioned models.

Soon, GM will no longer make the Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Cruze, Cadillac XTS, Cadillac CT6 or the Buick LaCrosse.