#Bonus

We posted earlier about the fact that many hourly employees at General Motors could enjoy five-figure bonuses this year, thanks in part to tweaks in the UAW agreement and a banner year for profits. Now, word has leaked about bonuses for the salaried. They may be down from last year – but many remain far higher than the ones paid to hourly employees. 

As predicted, the hand-wringing over Sergio Marchionne’s letter to Bob King was not enough to derail the basic motivations for the UAW to reach new deals with the automakers. Last night the union agreed to a tentative agreement with GM, its pattern target for this, the first round of negotiations since the bailout. That agreement must be approved by the union rank-and-file, but if ratified, Reuters reports that it includes

• The re-opening of the idled Spring Hill, TN plant to build an unspecified “new product”
• $5,000 signing bonuses (at a cost to GM of $245m)
• According to the NYT, “significant improvements to health care benefits” are also part of the deal
• According to AN [sub], the union “successfully fought back efforts to make major changes — and weaken — our retirement plan.”