GM says 19,000 workers taking buyout

“This agreement will secure the future of the Lordstown Complex for many years to come and help in securing the future for our families and the Mahoning Valley,” Local 1112’s Web site said.

A message was left for local President Jim Graham.

Cobalt sales were up 17 percent through April, while G5 sales were down slightly. Silverado pickup sales were down 21 percent in first four months of the year.

Lehman Brothers auto analyst Brian Johnson predicted GM will have to cut North American production by 16 percent this year because of weak sales of trucks and SUVs. Despite minimal truck production recently due to a strike at parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc., GM still had a 125-day supply of pickups and a 139-day supply of SUVs at the end of April, Johnson said. A 60-day supply is considered ideal in the industry.

“GM’s inventories of large trucks have grown to worrying levels, and we expect GM to plan large production cuts over the remainder of the year,” he wrote Thursday in a note to investors.

One of the people familiar with GM’s restructuring moves said there should be little change in GM’s product plan because the company already was moving to bring more cars and crossover vehicles to market.

GM offered buyouts to all 74,000 of its U.S. hourly workers in February. The company never said how many it hoped would leave.

Under the program, retirement-eligible workers were offered financial incentives to retire with full pension and benefits, while workers who were within four years of their 30th anniversary with GM were allowed to retire early and get reduced pay until their benefits kicked in. Workers could also take up to $140,000 to leave the company with no ties.

GM wouldn’t say how many workers took early retirement and how many took buyouts, nor would it state the cost to the company.

JPMorgan analyst Himanushu Patel said the acceptance rate was better than expected. He predicted GM won’t replace up to 15,000 of the 19,000 departing workers, for total annual savings of $2.1 billion.

Detroit-based GM conducted its last round of buyouts in 2006, when 34,410 workers left. GM had 113,000 U.S. hourly workers at the time.

GM’s move follows big changes at Ford Motor Co. due to the shifting market. Ford on Wednesday confirmed it is looking at involuntary layoffs of salaried employees, perhaps as many as 2,000 workers.

Ford said earlier this month that it will cut North American production by 15 percent in the second quarter, 15 to 20 percent in the third quarter and 2 to 8 percent in the fourth quarter, primarily affecting pickups and SUVs.

GM shares rose 23 cents to close at $17.38 Thursday after dropping as low as $16.73 earlier in the day, their lowest level in nearly 26 years.

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