GM buyouts to commence in May
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| Ryan Prewitt photo The General Motors assembly center in Wentzville produces Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. The plant will shut down until the United Auto Workers and American Axle & Manufacturing Holding Company Inc. can reach a deal. |
Local 2250 President Gary Styles said last week that the information the union's benefit representative would bring back with them last Thursday would mark the beginning of deliberations by GM Wentzville plant workers as to whether they'll accept the company's buyout offer.
"It won't be before May," Styles said of the sign-up period."People are going to start to make plans and do scenarios," Wheeler said when the plan was announced last month, explaining that it is difficult to estimate how many employees might take the buyout as they weigh the pros and cons of the deal.
GM is trying to phase out older, more expensive members of its workforce and replace them with younger workers at a lower pay rate. The buyout program was offered to all 74,000 of GM's U.S. hourly wage workers.
Bill Schiltz, chairman for United Auto Workers Local 2250, has said the package being offered is similar to the GM buyout in 2006, except that it offers different levels of pension incentives for production employees and skilled trade workers.
While much surrounding the deal is still murky, this much is known: For those of retirement age, skilled workers would receive pension incentives of $62,500. Production workers would receive $45,000.
Eligible employees, which number between 300 and 400 in Wentzville, can elect to receive the incentive through a one-time, lump-sum cash payment, a direct rollover into their 401(k) or IRA account, a monthly annuity or a combination of partial lump-sum and rollover into a retirement account.
The Wentzville plant assembles GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express full-size vans. It is the only GM plant in the world that manufactures the vans; production for 2007 reached 160,000.
Skilled trade workers at the plant are paid $30 an hour, while production workers are paid $28 an hour, according to UAW Local 2250. That amounts to annual salaries of $62,400 for skilled trade workers and $58,000 for production employees, considering a 40-hour workweek, though many workers frequently work overtime shifts in months such as March, when the plant is operating on an overtime schedule that includes Saturday shifts.
Employees who have 26 to 29 years of service can take part in a pre-retirement program under which they would receive a fixed monthly payment with full benefits until they reach 30 years of credited service.
For those willing to cut all ties with GM, a $140,000 buyout incentive is being offered to workers who have 10 or more years with the company or seniority, while those with less than 10 years would receive $70,000.
Wentzville Mayor Paul Lambi said he expects the buyout to have a minimal impact on the city because the vacated positions will be replaced and he expects those who take the buyout to have little difficulty in re-entering the workforce. The GM plant employs 2,200 workers.
GM has reported it will fill the vacated positions with new workers at a lower wage, which it says is necessary to the company's viability in the future. The company lost $38 billion in 2007.
