UAW Trust To Get 17.5% Of GM Shares

(AP)  General Motors Corp. will give the United Auto Workers union 17.5 percent of its common stock, $6.5 billion of preferred shares and a $2.5 billion note to fund a trust that will take over retiree health care costs starting next year.

The funding for the trust was outlined in a summary of concessions that the company and union have agreed to as GM tries to restructure outside of bankruptcy. Plant-level union officials met in Detroit on Tuesday to get briefed on the agreement, and The Associated Press obtained a summary of the concessions.

The summary says most of GM's 61,000 hourly workers will get another buyout and early retirement offer, this one sweeter than the most recent one.

Production workers will be offered $20,000 plus a $25,000 car voucher for early retirement, while skilled trades workers will get $45,000 plus the car voucher.

Buyout packages include $115,000 and the car voucher for employees with 20 or more years of service. Those with less than 10 years would get $45,000 and the car voucher to leave the company.

The summary also says GM will take back five facilities from Delphi Corp., its former parts arm now in bankruptcy protection.

GM will take ownership of Delphi Saginaw Steering in Saginaw, Michigan; Delphi Thermal Systems in Lockport, New York; Delphi Powertrain in Rochester, New York; Delphi Powertrain Systems facilities in Rochester, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Delphi Electronics and Safety in Kokomo, Indiana.

[taxpayer75]

gm retirees payed taxs all there working life and still pay on retirement money worked for retirement people that don't own us cars cry the loudest.

[notso9]

UAW....a little guy? LOL....maybe in a little mind
Posted by billpl-2009


Union or non union, the hourly worker is the little guy, and not responsible for the bad decisions of the company they work for. They just manufacture the product they are paid to and usually have no say so in the product.

[billpl-2009]

"Once again, blame the little guy" -- Posted by notso9

UAW....a little guy? LOL....maybe in a little mind

[notso9]

bearcats22, I bet most UAW employees can spell better than you can.

[notso9]

How can a company filing for bankruptcy afford to pay UAW workers $115,000 plus a $25,000 car voucher if they take early retirement. THIS IS BS. It is our taxpayer money that's paying for this ****. The workers put the compnay in bankruptcy and should get no money PERIOD!!!!!!!!!
Posted by golfered2


Once again, blame the little guy. These workers get paid what the company has agreed to pay them and receive the benefits that are agreed to. The company has put the workers jobs in jeopardy with excessive executive pay, poor business decisions and poor product decisions. Like the others, they put all their eggs in one basket (oversized trucks and suv's) and all it took was a swing in the economy and outrageous gas prices for the consumers to do what they have to to live within their budgets, downsize. The hourly worker is the least of the problem with large, greedy corporations.

[golfered2]

How can a company filing for bankruptcy afford to pay UAW workers $115,000 plus a $25,000 car voucher if they take early retirement. THIS IS BS. It is our taxpayer money that's paying for this ****. The workers put the compnay in bankruptcy and should get no money PERIOD!!!!!!!!!

[brianbwb-2009]

"(AP) General Motors Corp. will give the United Auto Workers union 17.5 percent of its common stock, $6.5 billion of preferred shares and a $2.5 billion note to fund a trust that will take over retiree health care costs starting next year. "

So if the UAW is smart, they will sell at least 80% of this paper, and convert it to utilities, or commodities like gold.

It is not a bad idea to hold on to a few shares, but the stock value, after a small bump, is certain to go down drastically, and if GM goes into bankruptcy anyway, as I think it will within the next two years, the stock will be worthless anyway.

The only way GM can survive is by doing the "unthinkable", start keeping honest books, and cut upper management pay and bonuses. No one in the company should be paid more than $1 million per year, which should be the CEO salary.

Since we know they won't do that, and we know they will try to continue with the same business model that has failed them, it is only a matter of time, and not a whole lot of that, before they go under.

[Hermit1948]

No more GM vehicles for me either.

[billpl-2009]

"UAW Trust" ......oxymoron

[whitemale08]

At least the UAW wasn't trashed as bad as it has been in the past.

People who work with their hands and do physical manual labor should always be paid first and more then some bl_ke sitting in a cubicle somewhere trying to structure-finance some worthless derivative or credit-default swap.