Workers are bearing the brunt of a shift in consumer preference toward trucks that's been swift enough to cost them their jobs, even as total U.S. vehicle sales flirt with last year's record. With cheap gasoline spurring demand for more fuel efficient SUVs and pickups, automakers have been forced to dial back car output to address swelling inventory. "It's a pendulum and now it's shifting our way," said Glen Johnson, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 in Lordstown, Ohio, where 1,200 workers making the Cruze will be dismissed next month. "It wasn't that long ago that gas was $3.50 a gallon and we were feeling for our friends in truck plants." GM's plan to cut 1,300 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck car plant was disclosed Monday in an official notice to the state of Michigan. The factory makes the Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lacrosse and Cadillac CT6 sedans, as well as the Volt plug-in hybrid.