GM extends deadline for buyouts

Automaker hopes that giving extra week to workers at 4 plants will lure more to take offers.

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp., looking to entice thousands of hourly workers into retirement, will give employees at four factories an extra week to decide whether to cut ties with the company.

The companywide deadline to sign up for retirement incentives and buyout offers was supposed to be Thursday. But GM hit a snag in rolling out the enticements when the automaker was forced to fully or partially idle dozens of factories amid the United Auto Workers strike at parts maker American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. A tentative agreement between the UAW and American Axle was reached late Friday.

As a result, about 10,000 workers at GM plants in Pontiac, Flint, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Moraine, Ohio, will have until May 29 to decide whether to leave, GM spokesman Dan Flores said on Monday. The remaining work force must decide by Thursday.

GM is extending buyout offers to all of its 74,000 UAW-represented hourly workers.

About 34,000 workers accepted offers to leave the company in 2006.

GM did not say how many workers it hopes will take the deal, but the company sweetened offers this time in hopes of getting more people to sign on.

Retirement-eligible workers will be offered up to $62,500 to leave with full pension and benefits. Less senior employees will get a range of buyout offers.

Moving out veteran workers is a central part of GM’s labor deal with the UAW, which allows GM to replace many veterans with new hires at a lower wage rate.

Ford Motor Co., which also has offered buyouts, fell short of its recent goal. About 4,200 Ford employees took its latest offer, half of what the company wanted.

GM has a more senior work force and is expected by many analysts to clear out a larger number of workers.

You can reach Sharon Terlep