Business and Finance

More than 600 local Chrysler pickup plant workers have accepted voluntary severance and retirement offers, a union official said Tuesday evening.

Tuesday was the final day for Chrysler’s U.S. hourly workers — including those from the Fenton pickup plant and the idled minivan plant — to accept the current round of voluntary severance and retirement incentives. The packages take effect today.

Nearly 640 pickup plant workers have already left or will leave today under the offers, said Don Ackermann, vice president of United Auto Workers Local 136, which represents hourly workers at the Dodge Ram facility. About 1,250 workers as of March were eligible for the offers, he said.

"I was expecting a fairly high turnout, but I wasn’t expecting … this kind of number," he said.
Ackermann said he’ll have to talk with the plant manager and human resources director about the plant’s work force needs.

Chrysler has said it will close the pickup plant by Sept. 30, but it’s unclear how much time or labor it will need to finish Dodge Ram production.

Joe Shields, president of UAW Local 110, did not have a final tally of his members Tuesday evening. Local 110 represents about 300 hourly workers who had worked at the idled minivan plant.

Nearly a month ago, UAW members approved labor and health care concessions. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy the next day and said it would permanently close the Fenton minivan and pickup plants, along with six other facilities.

A hearing to approve the sale of Chrysler’s remaining assets, to a group led by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, is set for today.

Donald Goforth, laid off from the pickup plant since September, had more questions than answers about what option he should take.

The 14-year Chrysler worker could stay with the bankrupt automaker and hope to get transferred elsewhere. But Chrysler has been mum on transfer opportunities — on which workers would qualify and on when those transfers would happen emergency cash loans.

So although he worried about how quickly he could find a new job, Goforth said Tuesday afternoon that he planned to take a buyout offer.

Goforth, 41, of Cahokia, qualifies for a buyout of $25,000 toward a new vehicle and a $115,000 taxable, lump-sum payment.

He wanted to know if he had enough years of service to transfer to another plant. No one could tell him that information, he said.

"It’s still too early to determine what’s going to happen" with transfer opportunities, Chrysler spokeswoman Dianna Gutierrez said.

She also declined to say Tuesday how many workers so far had signed up for the packages nationwide.

The offers are:

— A $50,000 payment and a $25,000 new-vehicle voucher if a worker qualifies for retirement.

— Full retirement benefits under a special early retirement for workers ages 50 to 62 with at least 10 years of service.

— Preretirement leave for those who are eligible for retirement within 24 months of their plant’s closure.

— A buyout of $75,000 and a $25,000 vehicle voucher for workers with one to 10 years of service. Those with more than 10 years will get $115,000 and a $25,000 vehicle voucher.

Laid-off workers who do not accept an incentive offer could wait to be transferred. But just how long they’ll have to wait for an offer — and where they’ll be asked to move — is uncertain.

Under the revised UAW contract approved April 29, a laid-off worker could receive one chance to transfer. If he or she rejects that offer, the worker will be dropped from the payroll and only have the right to be recalled if the local plant reopens.

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