"This is the worst I've seen it."

Thousands out of work and plants with no signs of life. It's what Lansing can expect at its two GM plants for the next month.

"It's discouraging. It's almost despairing," said UAW local 602 president Brian Fredline.

He says this latest round of layoffs could be the worst yet. With no jobs bank to fall back on, employees may struggle to stay on their feet.

"There is not a jobs bank to go to anymore. That was one of the fundamentally proactive things the UAW did to remove our safety net."

The UAW gave up the jobs bank to help GM get a bridge loan from the federal government. That safety net gave long -term laid off employees about 95% of their pay. While the two plants only plant to shut down for a month, hundreds will be facing indefinite layoffs as production slows.

"This will be a lot tougher. It'll be tougher for those newer hired individuals who would have had that safety net."

But it's not all bad news. Those employees will each receive about 360 bucks a week in unemployment from the state, in addition to sub-pay provided by GM and the UAW. Put those together and workers should get about 70% of their take home pay.

"It's going to hurt but it's not going to hurt that long. We'll be back to work on February 2nd."

But when the plants re-open next month it won't be what it used to be. In order for GM to survive, both plants will produce fewer cars with fewer employees...perhaps for the long haul.