GM seeks deal on buyout plan

[nadepalma]

I hope that this happen sooner rather than later. Excellent.

SOURCE: Detroit News

Tuesday, December 18, 2007
GM seeks deal on buyout plan
Automaker pushes to find savings amid slack sales
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp., looking to slash costs quickly in a weakening U.S. auto market, is pushing to cut a deal with the United Auto Workers on a buyout program for thousands of veteran workers.

The automaker could begin rolling out offers before Christmas rather than waiting until early next year as initially expected, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

GM wants to encourage more senior employees to leave the automaker so a lower-paid, second-tier of workers can take their place, one of the key concessions GM won in this year's national contract talks with the union.

GM is under intense pressure to generate savings amid slackening sales of cars and trucks. GM's sales have tumbled 6 percent through November in a slower overall U.S. auto market. Demand in 2008 is expected to be as slow as or worse than this year.

But getting the buyouts in place is complicated by contract negotiations with plant-level UAW locals, where details of the second-tier pay system, among other issues, still have to be worked out.

"GM would prefer to have this wrapped up right now, but these things can take time," said labor professor Harley Shaiken of the University of California-Berkeley. "This was such a large shift that they are proceeding more cautiously on a local level."

Under the two-tier wage system, pay levels will be determined by the type of job workers have. Jobs considered core to building an automobile will stay at the higher wage level, while so-called non-core jobs will command about half the current average wage.

More than two months after reaching a national contract with the UAW, GM has only a couple of local deals approved. Several local union presidents interviewed recently said local talks are progressing, but slowly.

"I'm not going to talk about anything until we're getting close," said Dwayne Humphries, shop chairman of UAW Local 276, representing the GM assembly plant in Arlington, Texas.Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC also won two-tier pay agreements from the union and plan to offer buyouts to make room for lower-paid workers. But Ford avoided the situation GM is in by striking a national deal with the UAW that called for a set number of lower-tier workers regardless of their job. Chrysler LLC settled on details of its buyout program as part of the national talks, but also is still working to define second-tier jobs.

GM, which lost $12 billion in 2005 and 2006, has said it must slash labor costs to compete against leaner foreign-based rivals. The bulk of savings to come out of the labor deal won't be realized until at least 2010. That's the soonest a union-run, company-funded trust to cover retiree health care would take effect.

That makes reducing wages even more critical to for GM.

As many as 56,000 of GM's 74,500 blue-collar workers could retire by 2011, and many of their replacements would fall into the lower wage tier. Under the contract, about 16,000 jobs would be considered non-core.

A new worker hired into a lower-tier job will cost GM $25.65 in combined wages and benefits -- less than one-third of the $78.31 the automaker currently spends. Workers will have the opportunity to move into the higher paying jobs as they become available.

MORE HERE

[coaster.n3rd]

Didn't more employees take this than expected last time? This could be relatively simple and quick for the General.

[VCDJ]

I do not understand why does gm need to pay UAW people to work so much. It is not like they will build cars better then other people who will work for less. Look at Honda Plants in America. They only pay half what UAW is charging and Honda makes higher quality cars. GM should Pay UAW on performance. If Honda civic is standard for quality in small cars and if UAW workers can assemble higher quality car then honda employees can make civic then they will desrve to be paied as much as they get paied now. But when they assemble cars like cobal wow, they should be all fired.

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

I do not understand why does gm need to pay UAW people to work so much. It is not like they will build cars better then other people who will work for less. Look at Honda Plants in America. They only pay half what UAW is charging and Honda makes higher quality cars. GM should Pay UAW on performance. If Honda civic is standard for quality in small cars and if UAW workers can assemble higher quality car then honda employees can make civic then they will desrve to be paied as much as they get paied now. But when they assemble cars like cobal wow, they should be all fired.

Please substantiate your claim that Honda makes higher quality cars in the US.

[newclasshero]

Originally Posted by steinravnik

Please substantiate your claim that Honda makes higher quality cars in the US.

++ 1

[skylark68]

$25.65 in wages and benefits seems really good for an entry level worker. I wonder what take home wage the worker receives (as in his actual paycheck)?

I also ask VCDJ to explain to us how he justifies Honda producing higher quality cars than GM.

[ericmvest]

Originally Posted by steinravnik

Please substantiate your claim that Honda makes higher quality cars in the US.

He can't. General Motors or Ford have won the JD Powers Gold Plant Award for initial 90 days reliability the last 6 years. Ford won it this year and General Motors won it the previous 5 years. The JD Powers Gold Plant Awards in Honda's plants must be getting dusty because they have not won any recently.

I owned 4 Hondas that I purchased new in the 1990’s and had interior parts break and paint failures on all of them even though I only owned them a few years. Honda’s quality reputation seems over blown to me.

[stevecmh]

Originally Posted by skylark68

$25.65 in wages and benefits seems really good for an entry level worker. I wonder what take home wage the worker receives (as in his actual paycheck)?

I also ask VCDJ to explain to us how he justifies Honda producing higher quality cars than GM.

my freind got a job at Delphi as a part of the buyout package.. he gets like 15 bucks an hour.. i am guessing it is similar to that number

[VCDJ]

Every study shows not jus CR that civic, fit, accord are higher quality then malibu, cobalt and aveo. That is just the fact. I do not own any honda cars. I never will. But the fact is honda makes higher quality cars then gm. GM did improve but so did honda. If gm made qaulity cars like honda did for last 30 years gm would not be in trouble now. So come on guys open your eyes and see reality for once. I get attacks from you guys because you are over paied UAW employees who do not desrve to get paid what you get paied.

[SDRacing]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

Every study shows not jus CR that civic, fit, accord are higher quality then malibu, cobalt and aveo. That is just the fact. I do not own any honda cars. I never will. But the fact is honda makes higher quality cars then gm. GM did improve but so did honda. If gm made qaulity cars like honda did for last 30 years gm would not be in trouble now. So come on guys open your eyes and see reality for once. I get attacks from you guys because you are over paied UAW employees who do not desrve to get paid what you get paied.

You need a clue, and a big one at that. How can you mention Malibu first of all? Are you talking about the last gen Malibu? Are you blaming the quality on the UAW? The UAW workers use what GM gives them, did you know that?

[K-1]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

Every study shows not jus CR that civic, fit, accord are higher quality then malibu, cobalt and aveo. That is just the fact. I do not own any honda cars. I never will. But the fact is honda makes higher quality cars then gm. GM did improve but so did honda. If gm made qaulity cars like honda did for last 30 years gm would not be in trouble now. So come on guys open your eyes and see reality for once. I get attacks from you guys because you are over paied UAW employees who do not desrve to get paid what you get paied.

As usual, you are entirely wrong and you have yet to prove anything you say is fact. Very few people on here are UAW employees. The reason you get "attacked" is your constant diatribe against GM, piss-poor grammar, and painful-to-read posts.

[BerettaZ]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

Every study shows not jus CR that civic, fit, accord are higher quality then malibu, cobalt and aveo. That is just the fact. I do not own any honda cars. I never will. But the fact is honda makes higher quality cars then gm. GM did improve but so did honda. If gm made qaulity cars like honda did for last 30 years gm would not be in trouble now. So come on guys open your eyes and see reality for once. I get attacks from you guys because you are over paied UAW employees who do not desrve to get paid what you get paied.

Well, GM's exit from the minivan market lead me to an Odyssey, which is a well engineered van. HOWEVER, it was delivered to me with a poorly aligned hood, and the nameplate on the tailgate is crooked. I will have these addressed when I take it in for difficulty restarting when it is warmed up...so, to this point, I fail to see the Honda quality difference

[NfamousZ24]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

I do not understand why does gm need to pay UAW people to work so much. It is not like they will build cars better then other people who will work for less. Look at Honda Plants in America. They only pay half what UAW is charging and Honda makes higher quality cars. GM should Pay UAW on performance. If Honda civic is standard for quality in small cars and if UAW workers can assemble higher quality car then honda employees can make civic then they will desrve to be paied as much as they get paied now. But when they assemble cars like cobal wow, they should be all fired.

And the Quality has nothing to do with how a vehicle is engineered, Or the cheaper material that was choosen by the bean counters of the past.

WOW it is all the Assemblers fault!!!

I am glad atleast that there are people that relize it isn't all the line workers fault. I am also glad that GM has the bean counters on a leash for now atleast.

Well looks like I have until late June until I get laid off. Unless if 8 people Retire or take the buyout. Woot!!!!

[UPLANDER1]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

I do not understand why does gm need to pay UAW people to work so much. It is not like they will build cars better then other people who will work for less. Look at Honda Plants in America. They only pay half what UAW is charging and Honda makes higher quality cars. GM should Pay UAW on performance. If Honda civic is standard for quality in small cars and if UAW workers can assemble higher quality car then honda employees can make civic then they will desrve to be paied as much as they get paied now. But when they assemble cars like cobal wow, they should be all fired.

I take exception to your statement. As an employee of the GM plant in Oshawa (Camaro) we ,the line and maintenance people take pride in the vehicles that are built in this complex. Yes i'm a CAW member however when you put down the UAW workers you are also kicking us in the stones. Please go to another forum (Honda) to vent your displeasure. I mean really..do you ever have anything positive to say with regards to GM ??

[01cavalier]

Originally Posted by UPLANDER1

I take exception to your statement. As an employee of the GM plant in Oshawa (Camaro) we ,the line and maintenance people take pride in the vehicles that are built in this complex. Yes i'm a CAW member however when you put down the UAW workers you are also kicking us in the stones. Please go to another forum (Honda) to vent your displeasure. I mean really..do you ever have anything positive to say with regards to GM ??

I take exception to it too, the workers have to work with what they are given and often have worked hard to help improve quality. Only once in my several years at GM customer service did I deal with an actual workmanship problem from a factory. I have come across more problems with vehicles where something happened in shipping to the dealers.

If someone has a problem with the wages, that is more of an issue with the contracts. If there are good wages it would be smart to go after those jobs.

As for vjcd ripping on the Cobalt, I have seen few problems, including mine, most things that need improvement are things lacking by design, typically when GM cheaped out on the car.
VJCD seems like a seriously disgruntled customer or GM hater, just constantly trolling