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General Motors on Thursday said that 19,000 hourly workers ? a quarter of a unionized work force that already has been drastically pared down ? have accepted buyouts. Most of the workers will depart within the next month, as GM formulates a plan to deal with plummeting demand for sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks while gasoline prices climb above $4 a gallon. The proportion of GM workers who took a buyout is more than triple the acceptance rate at Ford, where 4,200 of 54,000 workers took deals offered as part of a similar program. Though GM?s 74,000 workers are on average older than Ford?s, the size of the exodus at G.M. signals deteriorating confidence among members of the United Automobile Workers in their employer and the industry.