GM Makes Plans To Rehire Laid-off Workers After 7,600 Hourly Employees Take Buyout

[Purveyor]

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. will be rehiring laid-off workers and possibly hiring new workers after about 7,600 hourly workers agreed to take buyouts or retire.

GM said Thursday that about 90 percent of those workers, most of whom will leave the company by April 1, chose to retire under the 30 years-and-out provision in their United Auto Workers contract.

A total of 4,100 Michigan GM workers are taking advantage of the automaker's attrition program, which is part GM's federal loan viability plan.

"There is still much to do, but the special attrition program, along with the many difficult but necessary actions we have taken in recent months will help ensure the long-term viability and future success of General Motors," said Gary Cowger, GM's group vice president of global manufacturing and labor relations.

An unspecified number of laid-off workers will be called back starting sometime in April, the company said. GM has more than 7,500 workers on layoff.

GM also plans to hire a small, but unspecified number of new workers at the entry-level wage of $14.50 an hour, which is about half of what current workers earn. Hiring new workers will likely occur only if GM's depressed production levels begin to improve.

Workers taking the buyout will receive $20,000 in cash and $25,000 for the purchase of a new GM vehicle. Those who opt to retire will receive those benefits, in addition to a base retirement payment of $3,150 a month and health insurance.

The cost of retiree health care is expected to be shifted from GM into a union-run trust next year.

GM has shed 60,500 hourly jobs through buyouts since 2006, or roughly half its hourly work force.

MLIVE: http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/03/gm_makes_plans_to_rehire_laido.html

[xchrom]

1. $14.50 -- the Great American Project of depriving

Americans of earning power continues.

reagan must be beaming in his grave.