Spring Hill GM Buyout Deadline Pushed Back

A deadline for GM factory workers in Spring Hill to take or leave a company-wide buyout offer has been extended to May 22.

The original deadline passed Friday. Chairman of UAW Local 1853 Mike Herron says the extension puts Spring Hill inline with cut-off dates at other GM plants. He says it also gives workers more time to make a life-changing decision. The automaker is offering as much as 62-thousand dollars for eligible retirees to leave. Herron says high gas prices, falling home values and uncertainty in the stock market has some workers hesitant to leave a stable job.

“I think if the economy were in a different position and you didn’t have all those factors working against folks, the middle class, you know, I think there’d probably be a lot more interest. But we’ve got a significant amount of interest even with those factors at play.”

Herron would not disclose how many of the plant’s 47-hundred workers have already accepted the buyout offer. He says roughly 40-percent of them are eligible for the lump sum payment and retention of benefits. However, nearly everyone is eligible for a larger lump sum of 140-thousand dollars, but that requires giving up any pension and health insurance.