Buyouts aid night-shift workers

The assembly line speed will be increased during daytime hours.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LORDSTOWN -- About 1,500 General Motors workers have signed up for buyouts, meaning few workers will be idled when the midnight shift is eliminated at the Lordstown car plant.
Workers are still signing up, with today being the deadline to register for payments that range from $35,000 to $140,000.
"There was a line out the door this morning," Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, said Thursday.
GM is offering buyouts to workers in North America as it tries to slim down its operations. The offers come as GM eliminates the Lordstown complex's midnight shift July 17.
Not many midnight workers will be idled because the large number of workers taking buyouts is creating openings for them, union officials said.
Graham said he hopes to avoid idling any workers in the assembly plant, which has about 1,100 hourly workers on the late shift.
Workers in the bank
Any workers who aren't needed on the other two shifts, however, will be placed into what's called a jobs bank, which provides full pay to workers even though they don't have production duties.
Graham said more than 1,000 assembly plant workers have registered to take the buyouts. He expects the final count to be 1,100 or more.
There are too many variables to know yet whether a jobs bank will be needed, however, he said. First, workers have seven days to change their minds and withdraw.
Also, some maintenance workers will remain on the midnight shift, and staffing is being increased on the remaining shifts because they will produce more cars. The line speed will be increased 17 percent, from 432 cars per shift to 504.
At the fabricating plant, about 470 workers had signed up by Thursday morning, said Jim Kaster, president of UAW Local 1714. He expected the number to reach close to 500 by today.
The fabricating plant has 500 workers on the midnight shift. It makes metal parts for the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5 that are produced in the assembly plant.
Management told Kaster to expect between six and 10 die makers to be placed into the jobs bank, and he's hoping there won't be any other workers.
Eligibility and amounts
Under the buyout plan, workers with at least 30 years of service can take a $35,000 payment and retire with full pensions. Workers with 27 to 29 years could quit working and be paid 60 percent of their monthly wages until they reach 30 years. At that time, they could retire with a full pension.
Workers with 10 or more years of seniority are being offered $140,000 if they agree to give up health care and other post-retirement benefits, except the pension benefits they have already built up. Workers with less than 10 years would receive a $70,000 buyout under the same conditions.
Kaster said most of the fabricating workers signing up for buyouts have at least 30 years' service, although some people from each of the groups are on the list.
Graham said those signing up from the assembly plant come from all levels of seniority.
shilling@vindy.com