GM layoff talk raises suspicions of buyout offers

GM calls talk of buyouts ‘wild speculation.’

DETROIT FREE PRESS

DETROIT — Is General Motors Corp. softening up its hourly workers for a new round of buyouts in order to hire less-expensive workers under its new four-year contract?

A recent series of layoff announcements raised that suspicion among hourly workers — which led to vigorous denials by the automaker.

In the weeks since workers ratified the contract, GM has announced plans to lay off 767 workers at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in December, 1,000 workers at Lansing (Mich.) Delta Township by the end of the year and one shift at Pontiac (Mich.) Assembly beginning in May.

The company said it is making the cuts to keep production in line with demand and denies any sort of scheme to prepare workers for a buyout. But Wall Street expects a round of buyouts and early retirements and, in at least one case, a union local’s president is flat-out asking for another so-called special-attrition plan.

“We know one is coming nationally sometime in March,” said George McGregor, president of UAW Local 22, which represents workers at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly. “In the meantime, we can ask the company for an attrition program at our plant.”

Workers at the Lansing plant — which makes the highly successful Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook — say cutting production doesn’t make sense because they have been working overtime for several weeks to meet demand for the hot new crossovers.

And though it is no surprise demand for the pickups made in Pontiac has declined, analysts and workers said they were astounded by the amount of advance notice workers were given of the layoff: more than half a year.

Gregg Shotwell, a union activist and worker at a different Lansing-area GM plant, said there is a growing belief that GM timed the layoffs to entice older workers to leave should the automaker offer a buyout and early-retirement program.

“That’s absolutely wild speculation,” said GM spokesman Tom Wickham. “At Lansing Delta Township, we said early on that the third shift would be temporary in scope. ... At Detroit-Hamtramck, the segment has been down for those products. And with the pickup truck plant, the segment has been softening throughout the year. The decision was made to announce the layoffs now very much as a courtesy.”

Whether an orchestrated move by the company to encourage workers to take a payment to leave, or simply a courteous notification, analysts expect GM to offer tens of thousands of its hourly workers packages similar to those offered last year — which ranged from $35,000 to $140,000 — and they expect it fairly soon.

Analysts and workers say there is a great opportunity for GM to cut costs if it can move workers paid at the current rate into retirement. Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. also could be expected to offer buyouts to maximize the value of the two-tier wage agreement.

The newly ratified contract allows GM to pay new hires into so-called noncore jobs about half the hourly wage of assembly workers and offer a lesser benefits package and less-expensive retirement benefits.