US Likely to Own 70% of Bankrupt GM

Treasury secretary says he's done after election

(NEWSER) - Tim Geithner is pretty sure he's going to be joining the ranks of the jobless after the election: The Treasury secretary—the longest serving member of President Obama's economic team—tells Bloomberg that Obama is "not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident. I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury." The White House announced in August that Geithner would stay put through the election, amid Beltway rumblings that he would step down. More»

Workers win $5,000 signing bonus in 4-year pact

(NEWSER) - Details are emerging from the deal for a four-year contract struck last night by GM and the UAW. Both sides seemed pleased with the deal, the first since the government bailout and one that will serve as a model for the UAW's talks with Ford and Chrysler, notes the Wall Street Journal . Some highlights of the pact, which is expected to be ratified by the UAW rank and file in the next week or so:

• Hourly workers get a signing bonus of $5,000 if they approve the deal, reports the Detroit News .
• GM will reopen an idled assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
• GM will improve profit-sharing for employees, basing the checks on all North American operations, not just those in the US, reports the Tennessean . (Last year's checks would have been $5,000 to $6,000, instead of $4,000.)

The company's 45K hourly workers to get around $4K each

(NEWSER) - General Motors will hand out profit-sharing checks totaling $189 million this year, or more than $4,000 per worker, the company announced today. That more than doubles the automaker’s previous record of $1,775, set in 2000, according to the New York Times . The payout will be less than the $5,000 Ford’s workers are getting, but the Ford figure includes a bonus, while the GM figure is “strictly what it would have generated under the agreement” it has with the UAW, a spokesman said. As one worker said, “Just the fact that we’re seeing a profit-sharing check, that’s great stuff.” More»

He's done the job before, under Clinton

(NEWSER) - President Obama named current Treasury adviser Gene Sperling as his next top economic aide today, taking over for Larry Summers as director of the National Economic Council, the AP reports. It’s familiar territory, the Los Angeles Times adds: Sperling had the same job under Bill Clinton, and he faced a Republican Congress. "He's a public servant who has devoted his life to making this economy work—and making it work, specifically, for middle-class families," Obama said. More»

Car giant tries to improve 'branding' by killing nickname

(NEWSER) - You can see the USA in your Chevrolet, but GM would rather if you stopped driving your “Chevy” to the levee or anywhere else. The company has sent out a memo to all its employees urging them to banish the ubiquitous nickname from their vocabularies. “We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertiser, or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet,” the memo read. More»