GM IDs jobs to be hit by 50% pay cut

Look for GM to cut its work force with annual buyouts, an analyst says.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

LORDSTOWN — Auto plant jobs that will receive a 50 percent pay cut have been identified.

The union at General Motors’ Lordstown assembly plant has been handed a non-negotiable list of jobs that will be paid about $14 an hour under a new national labor contract.

The jobs are in these departments: material movement, general stores, paint mix room, tire and wheel, engine dress, cockpit build and subassembly in the body shop, according to a flier issued by United Auto Workers Local 1112.

Officials from UAW and GM headquarters have been handing the same list to all plants in individual visits. A new labor contract says only workers who are directly connected to the assembly line will continue to receive top pay of $28 an hour.

Ben Strickland, Local 1112 shop chairman, said in the flier that the lower-paying jobs aren’t negotiable but that he is meeting this week with senior UAW officials to resolve other issues.

Among these topics “is a long-term plan to enable security for the entire membership for many years to come.” The UAW said in September that the plant is scheduled to receive two new models, one in 2009 and one in 2010.

Strickland could not be reached to comment.

The flier also added that union officials are discussing the possibility that a fixed number or percentage of workers would be hired at the lower wage.

In order to hire lower-paid workers, GM is trying to reduce its current work force by offering retirement incentives and buyouts.

No projections for new hires have been announced, but Sean McAlinden, an industry analyst, said the talk in Detroit is that GM wants about 20 percent of its assembly plants to be staffed with lower-paid workers.

The percentage would be higher for component and fabricating plants, said McAlinden, vice president for research for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Lordstown complex has a fabricating plant that stamps out metal parts for the assembly plant.

The assembly plant has about 2,400 hourly workers, and the fabricating plant has about 1,000.

Whatever GM’s future staffing goal is, it will take three or four years to reach it, McAlinden said. GM would like to offer employee buyout programs annually to continue to entice older workers to leave, he said.

He added that it’s too early to say how those offers would compare with this year’s plan.

“They might not be as rich or they could be richer,” he said.

The flier notes that details of this year’s buyout plan will be explained to members soon. The local will have representatives in Detroit next week to learn more about the program.

GM is offering production workers with at least 30 years of service $45,000 to retire with full benefits. Other deals vary, but include $140,000 for workers with at least 10 years of service.

shilling@vindy.com