国际英语新闻：U.S. automaker GM slashes pensions at top level

CHICAGO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- General Motors Corp. will significantly cut its senior executive pension plans as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, the company's president says.

GM President and CEO Fritz Henderson revealed the cuts during an appearance before a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee meeting Friday in Washington.

    Henderson told reporters after the meeting that the reductions apply to certain plans for executive retirees making more than 100,000 dollars a year.

    Those who get more will receive a third of what they had expected in excess of the cap money, he said.

General Motors President and Chief Executive Fritz Henderson speaks at the opening of its new Global Battery Systems Lab, the largest automotive battery lab in the United States, at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan June 8, 2009.

    Management retirees who make less will see a smaller 10-percent reduction in benefits once GM's restructuring is complete, according to details disclosed in a memo, Dow Jones reported.

    There was no resolution yet, Henderson said, on the pension for former CEO Rick Wagoner, who was ousted two months ago by the Obama administration that is overseeing GM's Chapter 11 restructuring.

    Wagoner, 56, a 32-year veteran of GM, had a pension with total accrued benefits of 22.1 million dollars as of Dec. 31. The pension is to be paid in five annual payments of 4.52 million dollars, with the first monthly installment due upon his retirement.

    Wagoner also is owed a 68,900 dollar annual pension. If he is docked two-thirds of the pension beyond the first 100,000 in his combined pensions, the former GM boss would lose 2.99 million dollars a year for five years -- or almost 15 million dollars.