Chrysler workers split on buyouts

Many not eligible for retirement don’t take cash, concerned about lower-paid replacements.

Eric Morath / The Detroit News

WARREN — Hundreds of Chrysler LLC hourly workers appeared poised to accept early retirement and buyout packages Monday — the last day most Metro Detroit manufacturing employees could accept offers.

Many more, however, will stay with the automaker; some workers said the packages weren’t rich enough or they were concerned that their jobs would be replaced by lower-paid "non-core" workers, as the latest United Auto Workers contract allows.

The mood among workers at Warren Truck was split, as employees mulled their decision, said line worker Dwayne Rogers. Many retirement-eligible workers were happy to snap up the deals that would pay $70,000 and full retiree pension and health care benefits, he said. But Rogers, a Detroiter who has been with Chrysler for 12 years, and others not eligible for retirement, were less interested in a $100,000 buyout to walk away.

"It’s not enough money and people are concerned about giving up their job to someone who will make half of what they will," he said. "Bringing in those workers will split the union."

Monday was the last day for workers at nearly all Metro Detroit factories to accept the deal. Those sites include: Sterling Heights Assembly, Sterling Stamping, Warren Truck, Warren Stamping, Trenton Engine, Mack Engine I & II, Detroit Axle, Conner Assembly, Mt. Elliot Tool & Die, Sterling Heights Vehicle Test Center and Pilot manufacturing at the company’s Auburn Hills headquarters. Workers at the Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit chose last month whether to take the packages.

Chrysler will not say how many have taken the offers so far. Union officials at assembly plants in Detroit, Warren and Sterling Heights have told workers that several hundred members at each location have accepted the deal.

The packages are part of Chrysler’s effort to eliminate 8,500 to 10,000 hourly jobs, as it announced in November. It’s likely to reach that goal through a combination of special packages and layoffs. More workers accepting early retirement and buyout offers lessens the need for layoffs — especially at five assembly plants where shifts have or will be cut by the end of March.

Those shifts were eliminated as Chrysler seeks to match its production with demand for its vehicles.

The buyouts are "to assist employees that are affected by the volume-related actions and to further right-size the company," said Chrysler spokeswoman Michele Tinson.

Chrysler has extended the buyout offers to most of its UAW-represented work force, with some exceptions including workers in Newark, Del., and at Mopar parts distribution centers.

Many Warren Truck workers on Monday expressed concern that the packages Chrysler offered were not as rich as what General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are presenting their hourly employees — although that’s not entirely accurate.

Both GM and Ford offer a maximum $140,000 payout, depending on a worker’s age and seniority, but GM offers as little as a $35,000 lump sum for retiring workers — half of what Chrysler offers.

Some Chrysler workers said Monday they’d be more interested in some Ford programs, which extend cash and health care benefits to workers looking to return to school or open their own business.

"I’d look at it if they paid me to go back to school so I could find another job," said Warren Truck worker Nathan Wilkerson. "But I have a job now, so I’ll take that bird in my hand rather than start shaking the bush."