Chrysler offered buyouts of as much as $100,000 to most of its hourly workers in the Detroit area Monday as part of its plan to cut as many as 10,000 more jobs. The program means that nearly all hourly automotive workers in Michigan now have the option to leave their job this year. Earlier this month, the Ford Motor Company began a second round of companywide buyouts and General Motors extended buyout offers to about half of its work force. None of the automakers have said how many workers they expect to take the buyouts, but they plan to replace some departing workers with new hires earning about half the salary of their predecessors. That is allowed under a two-tier wage provision in the contract that the companies signed last year with the United Automobile Workers union.
See "Chrysler Offering Buyouts to More Hourly Employees", Nick Bunkley, The New York Times, January 28, 2008