DETROIT GM hourly workers to get smaller profit-sharing checks

DETROIT (AP) -- Roughly 125,000 U.S. hourly workers for General Motors Corp. will receive much smaller profit-sharing bonuses this year than last, a reflection of the increasingly competitive domestic automotive business.
GM said in its 2003 earnings release Tuesday that a typical hourly employee will qualify for a profit-sharing payment of $170 -- about $770 less than last year. Payments are scheduled to be made March 19.
David Littmann, chief economist at Detroit-based Comerica Bank, said he expects meager profit-sharing bonuses, if any, from GM's domestic counterparts, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group. Ford reports 2003 financial results Thursday, Chrysler on Feb. 19.
GM spokesman Mark Tanner said the profit-sharing formula involves operating profit from U.S. operations. The world's largest automaker said profits from its global automotive operations were off 31 percent last year, including a 38-percent decline in North America.
GM said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings equaled the $1 billion it earned in the same period a year earlier, but the results were propped up by financing operations and asset sales. GM, along with Ford and Chrysler, has had to offer heavy consumer incentives, which eat away at profits, to maintain sales. Profits also have been hurt by rising pension and health-care costs.