GM offers up to $140,000 (or free healthcare for life) to each employees to GTF out.

[GmanJoe]

 

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/22/news/companies/gm_delphi/index.htm?cnn=yes

GM offers workers up to $140K to leave
Severance packages available to 113,000 workers; deal also reached with Delphi to avoid labor dispute.
By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney senior writer
March 22, 2006: 10:08 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - General Motors Corp. is offering its hourly workers as much as $140,000 each to leave the company as the embattled automaker made its latest effort to cut labor costs and end billions of dollars in losses.

GM announced an agreement with the United Auto Workers union Wednesday, although it did not give the details of the offer being made to all 113,000 U.S. hourly employees. But a source familiar with terms of the offer confirms those UAW members with 10 years or more service with the automaker will get $140,000 if they agree to forsake the retiree health care coverage that has become a crippling burden for GM.

Those with less than 10 years service time will get $70,000 if they leave without the health care coverage.

The company also announced a much anticipated agreement Wednesday with bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi and the United Auto Workers that is seen as a key to avoiding a crippling strike at that key supplier.

GM (Research) will pay certain Delphi employees $35,000 to retire early and offer jobs at GM to 5,000 Delphi employees, according to a statement from Delphi (Research). GM hourly employees who are eligible for retirement are also being offered $35,000 to retire early.

GM has job guarantees with the UAW members that run through September 2007, but it announced plans in November to close a dozen plants and facilities and trim 30,000 hourly jobs in North America.

"We said we\'d be working with UAW leadership to develop an accelerated attrition program that would help us achieve needed cost reductions as rapidly as possible, while at the same time responding to the needs of our employees," said a statement from GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. "We are pleased that this agreement will help fulfill that important objective."

GM lost $10.6 billion in 2005 and its executives have not said when they expect it to return to profitability. They have said an agreement with Delphi as well as an agreement with the UAW to cut its own labor costs were keys to that return to black ink.

GM also has contract obligations to the union members at Delphi, which it spun off in 1999. It said those costs could have gone as high as $12 billion, though last week it said the cost would likely be closer to the $5.5 billion pre-tax charge it took in the fourth quarter.

GM announced Wednesday it will take additional charges this year as part of the new offer.

Besides those contract obligations, GM had an incentive to help Delphi trim its labor costs to avoid a potentially crippling strike by the union at the parts maker, which is still GM\'s largest supplier. Delphi executives had demanded deep concessions from the union and set a March 30 deadline for a cost-cutting deal, threatening to go to the bankruptcy court to have its labor deals thrown out without an agreement. The union had threatened a strike if Delphi had taken that step.

"An accelerated attrition plan will help enable the transformation of our U.S. manufacturing and support operations into a much more competitive cost base," said a statement from Delphi Chief Operating Officer Rodney O\'Neal.

Delphi said that it will continue talks in an effort to achieve a comprehensive agreement with the UAW and other unions at Delphi. But the three-way agreement is generally seen as clearing way for those new labor pacts.

It will present the agreement with GM and the UAW on the early retirement and the return of 5,000 UAW members to the autoworker to the bankruptcy court on April 7.

Unions suck. They had their use back in the day. Not today.

unions are the burden of the lazy american workforce

completely worthless, the workers have themselves to blame

[CHIZZY]

my father works for Delphi here...is/has been a model employee for 30 years. He hates the union crap, all he sees is them protecting their own needs and the lazy minority hires.

[Titan]

my father works for Delphi here...is/has been a model employee for 30 years. He hates the union crap, all he sees is them protecting their own needs and the lazy minority hires.

My dad is a road mechanic for a lifttruck company and he hates unions for basically the same reason. He got hurt on the job (broken wrist) but could still work light duty in the shop and the union wouldn\'t let him which caused him to lose a lot of money. They only allowed him workers-comp and he had to stay at home for over a month.

and the lazy minority hires.

it never fails with you.

Unions do suck now. And the smaller ones are company owned. I think there is a time a purpose for a union. Like the factory I work at we supply parts to leer and delphi.

Now they laid off 20 workers and hired 10 temp workers does that make sense? This is a time when a union should say something.

There are situation especially in manufactoring and automotive when unions are helpful. But for the most part they don\'t do jack now. It\'s all bull crap.