I have heard surprising little about this massive buyout offer by GM. I think this is a big deal because the main issue at stake is the cost of pensions and healthcare for retirees. I believe I heard that GM has 100,000 employees but benefits to over 300,000 retirees! Ouch.

With these people off the company balance sheet, they will join the Federal and State balance sheets. Will this finally precipitate some attention on healthcare? Maybe not since a $10B loss for a company demands change but $10B of our tax dollars is only 1 month of our occupation of Iraq... But it might be a start.

And this is sure to have an impact on the economies of the Midwest states.

GM's Buyout Package Attracts 35,000 Workers

Response Lets Auto Maker Accelerate Job-Cut Target, Raise Cost-Savings Goal

By LEE HAWKINS JR. in Detroit and KRIS MAHER in Pittsburgh

June 27, 2006

General Motors Corp. said about 35,000 hourly workers agreed to take financial incentives to leave the auto maker, allowing it to meet its job-cut target ahead of schedule and to increase its cost savings to $5 billion this year.

More workers than expected took part in what has become one of the largest employee buyouts in U.S. history, representing about 30% of the company's hourly work force, mostly represented by the United Auto Workers union. The reductions put the world's No. 1 auto maker by production ahead in meeting its job-cut target, which it set at 30,000 jobs by 2008 through attrition and other methods

Meanwhile, GM's former parts division, Delphi Corp., which separately offered a similar program to its union workers, said 12,600 UAW-represented workers took packages to leave. That total, also greater than expected and representing about 38% of its hourly work force, should help the parts maker emerge from bankruptcy-court protection as a more streamlined competitor and could reduce the power of the UAW there as it discusses wage and benefits cuts with the company.

Buyouts Promise a Big Boon for GM

Some 37,000 Workers Plan To Exit Auto Maker, Delphi; Fresh Obstacles Emerge

By JEFFREY MCCRACKEN and LEE HAWKINS JR.

June 23, 2006

About 37,000 hourly workers have so far accepted offers by General Motors Corp. and auto supplier Delphi Corp. to leave the companies, union officials say, potentially giving the auto maker greater cuts than expected but presenting a new set of questions to overcome.

In one of the largest employee-buyout programs in U.S. corporate history, about 28,000 GM workers -- or nearly 25% of the car maker's work force represented by the United Auto Workers union -- had taken early-retirement offers or buyouts as of late yesterday for an offer that ends today, UAW officials said. At Delphi, the former GM parts unit that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, about 9,000 workers had so far taken offers, those officials said.

But GM still has to tally the cost of the program, which offered 113,000 UAW workers between $35,000 and $140,000 to leave the auto maker. Workers with 27 years or more at GM would receive full retiree benefits, while workers with less seniority could keep their accumulated pensions. GM may also face questions of whether the right workers at the right plants -- specifically, older workers at plants set to close -- took the buyouts, or whether it may have to realign its work force somewhat to adjust for different acceptance levels at different plants.

GM expects to see its retirement obligations shrink considerably, since GM employees who accept the cash buyout will forgo larger pensions and health-care benefits.