More than one-fourth of GM's 74,000 hourly employees are going to grab the loot and skedaddle. Earlier this year, UAW President Ron Gettlefinger estimated that 15,000 would put their hands out, but another couple thousand decided to hop on the General's money train. The workers are expected to finish their employment by July 1. GM's most recent deal with the UAW means it can replace those folks with lower wage workers and save itself a bundle on payroll. And that will make the job of saving itself that much easier.[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Noe @ Jun 20th 2008 8:55AM
thats good 17,398 that were making $30+/hr, i bet at Gm they must be partying right now
roar @ Jun 20th 2008 9:19AM
Since the imports have had plants in the U.S. the domestics have had a significant disadvantage in the cost of labor/benefits/pension/etc. This has reduced the amount of R&D dollars and marketing dollars for the domestics. A company cannot spend billions more for labor and compete. So, if people are looking for who is responsible for this change in labor, pay and benefits, it began when the imports started to build plants in the U.S. and the unions could not get them organized. Simple really.
JeepDad @ Jun 20th 2008 9:37AM
Can those who took the buyout hire back at the lower wage??
MM @ Jun 20th 2008 9:45AM
I doubt it, it might violate their pension. Most of the UAW contracts are structured as such.
Ted @ Jun 20th 2008 9:59AM
Perhaps GM is taking a page from Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too
MattKelly @ Jun 20th 2008 12:23PM
For the last 15 years or so, GM has had pension and healthcare legacy costs of about $7 billion--with this employee buyout and a restructuring of North America labor contracts, those costs by 2010 are estimated to be down to $1 billion per year--a definite must for the company to move forward in the new economy.
PiCASSO @ Jun 20th 2008 1:58PM
"GM says 17,398 workers took buyout"
"More than one-fourth of GM's 74,000 hourly employees are going to grab the loot and skedaddle."
If my math is correct, that's less than one-fourth:
17,398 / 74,000 x 100% = 23.5% < 25.0%
Jacob @ Jun 22nd 2008 6:26PM
Once again, a domestic automakers plays hundreds of thousands of dollars as a "buyout" to each one of those workers simply for the right to lay them off. No wonder the big three are not doing well. Any economy where you can't simply lay off a worker will not function as well as it could. Notice how "well" the GM, Michigan, the other rustbelt states, as well as France are doing in comparison with the rest of the USA. There is no such thing as a god given right to have a job for life. The sooner the unions are brought down, the better. Unfortunately, the US might just lose its domestic auto industry in the process.