GM Offers $60,000 Buyouts to 2,000 Skilled Workers at 14 Plants
By David Welch - Dec 13, 2010
General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, said it will offer early-retirement packages worth $60,000 each to about 2,000 skilled-trades workers at 14 U.S. plants.
GM announced the offer today and aims to eliminate the positions by March, said Tom Wilkinson, a company spokesman. Eight of the 14 plants are scheduled to close and two may shut if GM doesn’t need them.
GM has been adjusting its North American manufacturing staff since emerging from bankruptcy on July 10 last year. Detroit-based GM has invested more than $3 billion in U.S. factories and will keep line workers at the 14 plants.
GM said Nov. 30 that it will hire 1,000 engineers in Michigan over the next two years to help expand the automakers’ lineup of electric-drive vehicles.
GM fell 1 cent to $33.80 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 2.4 percent from their $33 sale price in an initial public offering last month.
CNBC reported the retirement incentives earlier without saying where it got the information.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Welch in Detroit at dwelch12@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net.
