GM Raids Pension Fund: $11.6b for Buyouts, VEBA

Sunday? Sunday! That’s the day The Detroit Free Press chose to tell the world that GM’s recent accounts contain a time bomb: the revelation that the company raided—sorry, “borrowed from”—its employee pension fund to buy out United Auto Workers employees and pay into their health care fund. Even though we’ve become used to gigantic numbers, the sums involved are staggering. “Details are emerging about how General Motors Corp.’s U.S. pension funds went from a $20-billion surplus at the end of 2007 to a $12.4-billion deficit 12 months later.” I make that a $32.4-billion swing. It’s also approximately $11.4 billion more than GM’s CFO estimated its pension deficit, as declared in The General’s December pre-bailout report.

The GM pension funds’ erosion last year included $11.3 billion in value because of investment losses; $2.9 billion for hourly and salaried attrition programs, and another $8.7 billion for increases in benefit payments as part of changes to retiree health care and a deal regarding Delphi’s bankruptcy . . .

GM said it used $2.3 billion from the hourly pension fund to pay for buyouts in its UAW special attrition program, which encouraged thousands of workers to voluntarily leave the company as a cost-cutting move. The company also used $2.7 billion for the retiree health care trust—called a VEBA, or voluntary employee beneficiary association. GM spent another $2.3 billion for Delphi’s hourly pension program.

Also, as part of GM’s decision to cut company health care benefits for salaried retirees 65 or older, it increased pension benefits to retirees at a cost of $3.7 billion. The company spent another $600 million on white-collar retirement incentives.

The rest of the pension funds’ declines were attributed to service and interest costs, as well as changes in the discount rate and actuarial assumptions ($2.2 billion because people are living longer than expected).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. raised the red flag on GM’s pension funding last fall. And for good reason. And now union members (650k are “covered” by the fund) are scared shitless.

“They robbed it blind to pay off the people to get them to leave,” said Paul Heller, a GM salaried retiree from Washington, Mich. “I’ve got a retiree club that’s absolutely sick about it.”