GM offers buyouts to 9,000 salaried staff, sources say

General Motors Corp. is offering retirement incentives to 9,000 — about 28% — of its U.S. salaried workers, people familiar with the plan said.

GM has said it hopes to cut 15% of its U.S. and Canadian salaried workforce, or about 5,000 employees, as part of the cost-cutting efforts it has instituted in response to a weak U.S. economy and high gas prices that have driven a dramatic shift in consumer preference away from trucks to more fuel-efficient cars and crossovers. The cuts are part of a plan to reduce $10 billion in spending to sustain GM until 2010.

As the Free Press first reported Wednesday, GM began providing eligible U.S. salaried workers this week with sealed, individualized offers based on age, years of service and work history. Those workers will then have 45 days, plus a seven-day grace period, to decide whether to accept a buyout.

“There are certain criteria that impact which salaried employees are eligible for the window retirement,” GM spokesman Dan Flores said. “Among these criteria are the eligibility to retire under existing retirement provisions as well as management determination of where reductions are most appropriate based on business needs.”

Flores said GM is reducing staffing levels in areas of the business where the company has determined it is in its best interest.

Workers who take the retirement offers are expected to retire by Nov. 1.

The incentives aren’t being offered to Canadian salaried workers.

GM would not detail the structure of the offers. But some salaried employees who were briefed on the packages said GM appears to be offering pension benefits that are greater than those they would normally receive for the same age and service offering. For example, a worker age 58 is expected to receive a pension payment more like what he or she typically would receive at age 62.

GM has lost $57.5 billion in the past year and a half, including $15.5 billion in the second quarter.

GM reports that it employs 32,000 U.S. salaried workers, down 27% from 44,000 in 2000.

The automaker trimmed its U.S. hourly workforce by more than half to 57,000 last year. An additional 19,000 hourly workers accepted buyouts earlier this year.

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