GM offers buyouts to every one of its hourly workers
Yesterday, General Motors announced plans for another round of buyouts. Initial reports said the automaker would offer workers 50 years of age and older $20,000 cash and another $25,000 voucher towards the purchase of a GM vehicle. However, the Associated Press is now reporting that GM will offer every one of its hourly workers the opportunity to expand their career options. A UAW official confirms to the AP that the offer will be a one-time cash payout as well as a car-purchase voucher, but would not discuss specific amounts.
The same official said the buyout details should be announced by GM on Friday and employees would have until March 23 to stay with the company or begin looking at ways to make that $20k last until retirement. Takers of the buyouts would have until April 1 to clear out their lockers.
[Source: AP]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Carlos 7:31AM (2/04/2009)
GM just needs to move to a right to work state, this is bull.
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Sea Urchin 8:31AM (2/04/2009)
Nah, they just need to make better cars. If Cruze was available for sale say 1 year ago, GM certainly wouldn't be in THAT deep of a hole. Cruze should get 40 MPG, that certainly would have made money in last 3-4 years.
richard 9:44AM (2/04/2009)
"Right to Work" is bull. It means "Right to exploit workers". Don't believe the Replublican propaganda, bought and paid for by corporate interests. The unions haven't killed the big three, bad management decisions have. Without unions (which I freely admit allow bad worker behaviour at times) the people who are working, mostly VERY hard, on the lines, would not have proper health care, pensions, and the ability to house and educate their kids. Companies do nothing they aren't forced to do; foreign transplant car plants only pay reasonably well because of the threat of unionization.
Sea Urchin 9:55AM (2/04/2009)
Rich, unions are more responsible than you say BUT GMs problems begin and end with dumb management.
Carlos 10:28AM (2/04/2009)
No the right to work means that you're lucky to have a job and if you suck at your job you are able to be fired on the spot. With Unions how ever you cannot do that.
Samurai Jack 12:57PM (2/04/2009)
"Right to Work" means other things as well. . . it means you can be fired for things that are none of your employer's concern. They just don't have to like you very much. As I'm sure some of our gay brothers and sisters in these states can attest to...
Sea Urchin 1:36PM (2/04/2009)
Samurai....no it doesn't mean that at all. Right to work mean an employer can fire you without consulting the union.
Samurai Jack 2:01PM (2/04/2009)
I agree on that point Sea Urchin. I'm positing that the firing isn't necessarily related to the job performance.
montoym 9:55PM (2/04/2009)
quote from Sea Urchin: -
"Nah, they just need to make better cars." -
Name one model they build that isn't competitive(I'll give you the Aveo). Additionally, name some that aren't at or near the tops in their class for MPG.
Fact is, as much as you may not admit it, GM builds competitive vehicles and they are getting better day by day.
GM was only slightly behind Toyota this year in total sales relinquishing the title they've held for decades. GM's problem is not due to building an inferior product. Their problem is not making money on the many millions of cars they do sell. The profit aspect of it can be placed directly at the feet of the labor union which has pushed(over many decades) GM for ever lavish benefits to the point that currently, UAW workers are twice as expensive to employ as their non-union counterparts(once again, not direct pay to the employee but including benefits ad legacy costs).
quote from richard: -
"Without unions (which I freely admit allow bad worker behaviour at times) the people who are working, mostly VERY hard, on the lines, would not have proper health care, pensions, and the ability to house and educate their kids." -
OSHA and many other gov't entities now guarantee many of the benefits that unions once fought for(and rightfully so).
However, many, many millions of Americans who work non-union jobs and live in right to work states(22 states, http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm) are able to live perfectly fine lives without the "help" of a union to ensure(force) it.
Dr. Nick 8:50AM (2/04/2009)
Yeah, they could probably make a whole $300 on each one. Their margins stink. It's killing them- they can't profitably make a small car in this country.
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Sea Urchin 8:56AM (2/04/2009)
A good small car from GM, would become the BEST small car from Detroit. Focus is ugly and cheap and Chrysler doesn't even make small cars, so that would allow GM to basically dominate the field.
Polly Prissy Pants 9:28AM (2/04/2009)
We don't actually know if they can build a good small car profitably in this country because they've never built a good small car before. This argument has always been GM's excuse as to why they don't invest much in small cars but I call BS on it.
Kumar 9:41AM (2/04/2009)
Detroit has to find a way to be profitable on small cars. High profit margins on SUVs evaporated when home prices took a nose dive.
The best way to do that is make a product people want, as well as make another one that will do for people that just need cheap transportation, all under one name brand.
Sasha 9:18AM (2/04/2009)
Sea Urchin: You don't get the point. They lose money on cars like the Cruze. They could sell a million and they'd be even deeper in the hole.
Sure, their lineup was pretty poor for awhile, and still leaves something to be desired. But these labor contracts are killing them.
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Plato 9:17AM (2/04/2009)
Actually, Americans (and I mean REAL AMERICANS, not the people who just live here and don't care whether the Country lives or dies, but REAL AMERICANS) need to realize which side their bread is buttered on and start buying American products and end their love affair with Japanese and Korean cars (even the ones that are ONLY assemble here) and STOP buying all the products from China that fill the shelves at the discount stores-before it's too late-while there is still a Country to save !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sea Urchin 9:18AM (2/04/2009)
So buy American even if American clearly inferior?
Why would anyone based on a merit buy a Cobalt over a Civic or Corolla?
Scott K. 9:46AM (2/04/2009)
So you're basically saying that people supporting foreign companies are not real Americans? What about they guy building Subarus in Indiana or Toyotas in Kentucky, or Hyundais in Alabama? They're not real Americans? Listen, as long as I got a choice of what I want to drive, I'm going to be a real American and drive whatever the heck I want.
Plato 9:36AM (2/04/2009)
Aren't Sea Urchins eaten by Sea Otters? Well the sea otters in America are the 'people' who only think (if you can call it thinking) about doing what they want to do without any thought to the big picture-like the survival of America. Do the Japanese or Koreans buy any cars from us - NO. So Sea Urchin, why don't you act like the Asians you respect so much and buy the products that your own Country makes? And if you can't bring yourself to do that (and buy a Chevrolet instead of a Honda or Toyota) just live on the seafloor and wait for an otter to take your house, your WONDERFUL JAP car, and your job and leave the business of saving AMERICA to REAL AMERICANS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Big Rocket 11:41PM (2/04/2009)
@Plato: Was it really necessary to use a 3-letter racial slur to defend the honor of our country or its products? And if you honestly think it is unpatriotic to drive a Toyota, then perhaps you can teach a few Marines what it means to be a real American.
UAW targets Marines who drive non-union vehicles, then backpedals:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0503/15/A01-117640.htm
TomdeTomTom 9:49AM (2/04/2009)
Interesting report, considering if I was 50 years or older I would definitely not take the offer.
I can see younger workers doing so, but the older you are the harder it gets to find work elsewhere. Made sense to open it up to all.
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