General Motors

Mama San

Administrator
GM offers buyouts to 126,000
By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
DETROIT — In one of the largest buyout plans
in U.S. corporate history, General Motors (GM)
will offer money to about 126,000 hourly employees
at its plants and at supplier Delphi (DPHIQ) to quit their jobs.
Falling vehicle sales have left GM with too many workers.

GM will offer buyouts to all its United Auto Workers employees,
about 113,000, a crucial step toward saving itself financially.
The world's largest automaker said in November that it wants to
shed 30,000 blue-collar workers.

WORKERS NOT SURPRISED
A union leader said Wednesday that he is waiting to hear details
of a buyout deal but that the offer does not come as a surprise.
"We were expecting it to happen, but we didn't know exactly when,''
said Dan Fairbanks, president of United Auto Workers Local 1618.
"I thought it might be about another week.''
Fairbanks, 52, has worked for GM for 30 years and already had been
looking at retirement.
He said reports that GM workers will be eligible for payouts from
$35,000 to $140,000 depending on their years of service sound good,
but warned there could be conditions that make the deal less favorable
for workers.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said that while the company expects only a
portion of the eligible employees to take the buyouts, it isn't
saying how many it hopes will actually leave.

Workers will be offered a $35,000 payment if they agree to retire
early. Workers who promise to sever all ties with GM — leaving with
no retirement benefits — will get $70,000 to $140,000, depending on
time with the automaker

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Right now, I'm just praying that my pension is safe.
You can bet your bottom dollar that NO plants outside the USA will be shutting down or cutting back. If they do, it will be only minutely temporary.
This is what the car companies have been trying to accomplish for years. Nothing in the USA, everything is to be totally imported.
I have no idea who they expect to buy these cars. It's sure that only a few of us here in the US will be able to afford them........maybe.....a very few!!!!
I worked for GM and I haven't driven a new car in 20 years.
Sorry to have blasted off like that but I'm sick and tired of the USA being sold down the river to the highest bidders.
God bless,
Mama san
 

whitetiger6426

New Member
Mama San

I don't often post on the website though i read through these daily. I pray that your pension is safe and that everything will be well for you in the future days and years. I am sure that everyone else on this board feels the same way.

you will be in my thoughts and prayers daily.

Lee
 

Mama San

Administrator
Thank you for your kindness, Lee.
I hope and pray that all of the retiree's
pensions are safe.
God bless,
Mama san
 

pitts

New Member
Mama san said:
Thank you for your kindness, Lee.
I hope and pray that all of the retiree's
pensions are safe.
God bless,
Mama san

Mama sam, I also get a pension from GM, they have sent me out notice that our health care will be changing to, we will have to pay more. Did you get that notice?
 

Mama San

Administrator
Yeah, me too, Pitts.
I'm just trying to hang in there.
Hoping and praying that they
don't go too far.
God bless,
MAma san
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
They're downsizing the workforce here in Canada, too. One plant will lose the third shift and another plant will be shut down altogether, a loss of about 3,900 jobs over the next two years. And that's just GM; Ford is also closing plants and shutting down shifts left and right.

It's the third world economics trap - it's cheaper to build the cars in third-world countries and ship them to North America than it is to build them here. I hate to say this, but the unions have shot themselves in the foot on this one: their demands for higher wages, better benefits, job security, etc. have increased the cost of carmaking in North America to the point where, to keep cars affordable, the profit margin has to be slashed - and that means lower profits for shareholders.

Shareholders don't give a rat's ass about unemployed autoworkers in North America - they want comfortable returns on their investments, and they don't get them with (what is perceived as) the unreasonable wage and benefit demands of unions that have, in their opinion, way too much power.

I think your pension will be safe, Mama san (and I pray it will be). It's the poor sods who are close to retirement now that are going to get skewered.

It's a tough situation, for sure.
 

Pandora

Member
Thousands are losing their jobs in New Zealand too as factories are closing down and the work contracts going to China etc. We even export our raw food, materials etc and then import the finished product made from them.
It is simply greed!!!! I do hope your pension is safe Mama san. Rattle some of the top brass's wardrobes, you may find a few hundred skeletons....
 
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