Over 47,000 Take GM's Buyout Offer
Between GM & Delphi, 47,600 employees have elected to take the buyout offered a few months back. I recently commented on the enormity of this plan here. According to the New York Times, almost one third of GM's hourly employees and one half of Delphi's took the offer. Ultimately GM plans to eliminate over 30,000 employees and the results of this offering will enable it to meet that goal earlier than expected. Some additional facts:
About 30,400 G.M. workers, who had at least 26 years on the job, took early retirement packages that include payouts of up to $35,000 and full benefits. The remaining 4,600 will receive either $70,000 or $140,000, depending on their experience, but give up all their benefits except their pensions;
Employees at both G.M. and Delphi who accept the deals have seven days to change their minds. Mr. Wagoner said that window had closed for nearly all of those who said they planned to leave and that he did not expect the final number to change significantly.
The program will cost G.M. about $3.8 billion but save it $8 billion a year. G.M. lost $10.6 billion last year.