General Motors 2011 Annual Report Download - page 20

GENERAL MOTORS COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARIES
• A cash balance pension plan for entry level employees will be frozen on January 2, 2012 and terminated on June 30, 2012, or
as soon as practicable thereafter, subject to required regulatory approvals. Participants in this plan and all employees hired on
or after October 1, 2007 will participate in a defined contribution plan when this plan is frozen.
• A plan which provides legal services to U.S. hourly employees and retirees will be terminated on December 31, 2013. In
September 2011 we remeasured this plan resulting in a decrease of $0.3 billion in the other postretirement benefits (OPEB)
liability and a pre-tax increase in the prior service credit component of Accumulated other comprehensive income, which will
be amortized through December 31, 2013.
• The profit sharing plan formula will be based on GMNA earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) adjusted and is effective for
the 2011 plan year. The profit sharing payment is capped at $12,000 per employee per year.
• Cash severance incentive programs which may range up to $0.1 billion for skilled trade employees will be included in our
restructuring liability upon irrevocable acceptances by both parties.
• We plan to make additional manufacturing investments of more than $2.0 billion to create or retain more than 6,300 UAW
jobs during the four year agreement period.
Canadian Health Care Trust
In October 2011 pursuant to a June 2009 agreement between GMCL and the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) an independent
Canadian Health Care Trust (HCT) was implemented to provide retiree healthcare benefits to certain active and retired employees.
Concurrent with the implementation of the HCT, GMCL was legally released from all obligations associated with the cost of
providing retiree healthcare benefits to CAW retirees and surviving spouses by the class action process and to CAW active employees
as of June 8, 2009. We accounted for the related termination of CAW hourly retiree healthcare benefits as a settlement, and recorded a
gain of $749 million. Refer to Note 18 to our consolidated financial statements for further details regarding the implementation of the
HCT.
Pensions
As part of our long-term derisking strategy, changes in the pension portfolio mix resulted in a decrease in the U. S. pension
expected weighted-average rate of return on assets from 8.0% in 2011 to 6.5% for the hourly pension plan and 5.7% for the salary
pension plan starting on January 1, 2012. GMNA pension income will decline by an estimated $0.8 billion in 2012, due to the reduced
expected rate of return on plan assets of $1.4 billion, offset by net decreases to other components of pension expense of $0.6 billion,
primarily interest cost.
2009 Special Attrition Programs
In 2009 Old GM announced special attrition programs for eligible UAW represented employees, offering cash and other incentives
for individuals who elected to retire or voluntarily terminate employment.
U.S. Salaried Workforce Reductions
In 2009 U.S. salaried workforce reductions were accomplished primarily through a salaried retirement program or through a
severance program funded from operating cash flows.
Delphi Benefit Guarantee Agreements
The Delphi Benefit Guarantee Agreements (DBGA) provided contingent benefit guarantees for certain pension and OPEB benefits
to certain former U.S. hourly employees that became employees of Delphi. DBGA were affected by the settlement of the Pension
18 General Motors Company 2011 Annual Report