Ohio GM Members Approve Package of Retirement, Transfer Options

IUE-CWA members have approved a settlement with General Motors that offers a range of buyout, early retirement and transfer options for 1,000 workers at the Moraine, Ohio, plant that is slated to shut down in December.  The agreement also provides a trust fund for retiree health benefits.

"We are proud of what we have negotiated, but we realize that nothing compensates for the end of a career," said IUE-CWA Industrial Division President Jim Clark.  The Division and Dayton Local 84798 rallied community and political leaders in recent months to try to rescue the plant, which manufactures sport utility vehicles, urging GM to bring in new product lines and citing the outstanding productivity of the Moraine workforce.  However, GM stuck with plans to shut the plant, forcing the union to negotiate the best deal it could to ease the transition. 

The settlement provides a cash payment of $3,850 along with a 3 percent performance bonus retroactive to Sept. 15, 2007, tuition assistance and transfer opportunities to other GM plants, and a "special attrition package" for leaving the company or retiring.  GM will offer cash payments of up to $140,000 depending on years of service.

The contract calls for GM to contribute $1.6 billion to fund retiree health benefits in a tax exempt voluntary employees beneficiary association (VEBA) trust.