GM to call 21,400 back to work

More than 21,400 General Motors employees who have been on indefinite layoff will be called back to work, the company announced Thursday. Over the next three months, a GM spokesman said, the workers will resume work at seven car- and truck-assembly plants around the country. Monitor writer Thomas Watterson reports that the first group of workers will return to a truck and bus plant in Detroit, where a second shift is to be added and production on existing lines be stepped up. GM currently has 168,000 workers on indefinite layoff.

The company credited the callback to increased dealer orders, good customer response to the company's 1983 models, and the low-cost financing being provided by GM and its dealers. The automaker's sales have risen for eight consecutive 10 -day periods.

GM said it will reopen March 14 its plant in Framingham, Mass., which has been closed since October. This will allow the recall of 1,800 workers. GM is also studying the addition of a shift at Van Nuys, Calif. Roger Smith, GM chairman, had said Wednesday that about 1,000 workers would be recalled there. This recall was not among those announced.

Elsewhere in the auto industry, Chrysler Corporation said Thursday it would rehire 1,100 workers to build rear-wheel drive cars at its Fenton, Mo., truck assembly plant, and as many as 400 clerical and administrative employees.