By JASON MULLIS, Times-Mail
BEDFORD - One worker wouldn't give his name, but would say it's still too early to tell if General Motors Corp.'s early buyout offer is the good deal it appears to be.
Officials with the corporation struck a deal with United Auto Workers officials, offering nearly a third of the national work force an early retirement deal, in an effort to trim expenses from the heavily burdened automaker's budget.
Anyone with the required 30 years under his belt has tentatively been offered a $35,000 bonus to walk now. Other workers have been asked to consider a lump sum of $140,000, but will have to give up the coveted insurance and health care benefits associated with working for GM.
“I'm thinking I need more details,” said Joe Ritchison, a 34-year employee at the Bedford Powertrain facility. “There's too many variables to check into. I'm approaching it very cautiously.”
Ritchison said he and many others have been waiting for this offer.
“We just didn't know how much it was going to be,” he explained.
For him, $35,000 is just enough to make him sit, and seriously contemplate his financial position.
“Two of my buddies are squared away financially, and they are jumping for joy,” he added.
Still, Ritchison said, the general consensus is to remain calm, and skeptical.
“Right now GM is going through so many changes, and doing so many things, you don't know what to trust,” he said.
“They keep telling us it's costing so much for health care and retirees, and then they turn around and offer us all this cash to go ahead and retire.”
He has to wonder how secure that retirement would be.
“Would they just turn around and declare bankruptcy, cutting all of us loose?” Ritchison wondered. “Who knows?”
Several employees commented, confidentially, that they weren't making any firm decisions yet. There is a meeting scheduled for next week among national plant officials and corporate decision makers, and many are expecting more specific details, including a timeline, to come then.
Yet, while many remain cautiously guarded in their opinion, Ritchison expects GM's offer to snag several takers.
“Yes, it will,” he said referring to whether or not GM's offer would thin the ranks at Bedford's plant. “I just don't know how much.”