Tuesday 12th February 2008

In an attempt to cut costs, struggling auto giant General Motors (GM) offered buyouts to all 74,000 of its hourly employees in the US represented by the United Auto Workers union. The move came after GM lost $38.7 billion in 2007, which at the time was the largest loss ever experienced by any car maker. (Two weeks later, on February 26, the loss was adjusted by $4.6 billion, to $43.3 billion.)