Chrysler Offers Buyouts to Hourly Detroit Workers

CHICAGO, Jan 28, 2008; Ben Klayman writing for Reuters reported that Chrysler LLC said on Monday it is offering buyouts of up to $100,000 each to an unidentified number of hourly workers at 12 of its Detroit-area facilities as part of its November plan to eliminate up to 10,000 unionized jobs.

The buyouts could be extended to a 13th plant in Warren, Michigan, which was idled this week, Chrysler spokeswoman Michele Tinson said. Not every hourly worker will qualify for the buyout offers, which are being made only in Detroit, she added.

General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co said earlier in January that they had launched buyouts for United Auto Workers-represented hourly workers in North America.

GM's buyout offers cover about 46,000 workers, while Ford said it would offer buyouts to all 54,000 UAW hourly workers. Ford did not announce a target for the buyouts but has nearly 12,000 retirement-eligible U.S. factory workers.

In November, Chrysler, which private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management took over last August, said it would cut up to 10,000 hourly jobs over the next 14 months as it moved to slash North American production.

The cuts were in addition to 13,000 jobs Chrysler had already planned to eliminate as part of a restructuring plan announced in February; combined, the two announcements represented almost half its unionized factory positions.

Chrysler said in November it would also cut 1,000 salaried jobs and eliminate almost 40 percent of its white-collar contract positions.

The Chrysler buyout offers run through Feb. 18, Tinson said.

Editing by Derek Caney and Gerald E. McCormick)