General Motors made a major announcement on Monday saying it will close two plants in metro Detroit as well as plants in Ohio and Canada. The plan will help save the company $6 billion by 2020, according to GM.

In a press release, the company said it will close the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Detroit and Warren Transmission Operations in Warren. Other plans closing include the Oshawa Assembly Plant in Oshawa, Ontario, the Lordstown Assembly in Warren, Ohio and the Baltimore Operations in White Marsh, Maryland.

According to a spokesperson for GM, the plants will be unallocated which means they will no longer produce vehicles in those plants in 2019. According to the company, the future of the plants will be part of contract talks with the UAW next year.

“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,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success.”

According to the release, GM will lay off 14,700 factory and white-collar workers. Of those, 8,100 will be white-collar workers that will either take buyouts or be laid off.

The company said that the moves will help continue its focus on crossovers, SUVs and trucks. With the move, GM plans to cut 25 percent of the executive staff and 15 percent of the salaried and salaried contract staff.

"These actions will increase the long-term profit and cash generation potential of the company and improve resilience through the cycle," Barra added in the release.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called the news "troubling," saying he spoke with Barra on Monday morning and has also spoken with UAW President Gary Jones as well as Detroit's economic development team.

"We all know there is strong demand for manufacturing space in Detroit and we are willing to work with GM to fill all the available manufacturing space at Poletown with either GM-related entities or other companies," Duggan added.

According to Duggan, there are about 1,500 people that work at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, and he is working with the UAW right now to develop a strategy on what to do next.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, who represents Michigan's 12th Congressional District, is calling on Congress to "work on bipartisan policies that keep manufacturing jobs in this country," adding that she cares deeply for the families affected by the news.

According to General Motors, the restructuring will help the company focus more on the electric and autonomous vehicle programs over the next two years. Those focuses include expanding the use of virtual tools, integrating vehicle and propulsion engineering teams, increase component sharing and compress global product development campuses.

“This callous decision by GM to reduce or cease operations in American plants, while opening or increasing production in Mexico and China plants for sales to American consumers, is, in its implementation, profoundly damaging to our American workforce,” said Terry Dittes, UAW Vice President, Director GM Department. “GM’s production decisions, in light of employee concessions during the economic downturn and a taxpayer bailout from bankruptcy, puts profits before the working families of this country whose personal sacrifices stood with GM during those dark days. These decisions are a slap in the face to the memory and recall of that historical American made bailout.”

With the news, GM also announced it was ceasing production of six vehicles in 2019. GM said it will stop producing the Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS sedan and Cadillac CT6 sedan.

According to the company, the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant produces the Volt, Impala, LaCrosse and CT6. The first vehicle came off the line in 1985 and more than four million cars have been built at the plant since.

The Warren Transmission plant produces 6-speed transmissions for several cars including the GMC Acadia, the Impala and the Electric Drive Unit for the Volt, Chevy Malibu Hybrid and Buick Velite.

In all, the two plants combined for more than $197 million in state wages and $26 million in income tax.

UAW Vice President, Terry Dittes, responded in a video message to the closures. The transcribed message is below: