DETROIT – About 1,600 white-collar workers at General Motors Corp. will lose their jobs in the next few days as the troubled automaker accelerates cost cuts in order to qualify for more government aid. GM North America President Troy Clarke said Monday in an e-mail to employees that the layoffs are needed to ensure the company's long-term viability. "In these unprecedented times, GM is reinventing every aspect of our business, including our organizational size and structure, to create a lean and agile company," Clarke wrote in the e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. Clarke said the next week will be "a very trying time for the entire GM team, but especially for those employees directly impacted by these actions." The company has thousands of workers at several facilities in Ohio, including a major assembly complex in Lordstown, near Youngstown. GM is living on $13.4 billion in government loans.