GM union members ratify Ohio plant-closing deal

DETROIT (Reuters) - Union workers at an Ohio plant that General Motors Corp plans to close in late 2008 have overwhelmingly accepted a deal with the automaker that provides buyouts and a retiree health-care trust, a local official said on Thursday.

GM said earlier in October it would close the Moraine, Ohio, assembly plant that builds the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy SUVs by the end of 2008. It had been identified in June as on of four truck plants it planned to close by 2010.

However, the U.S. automotive market has deteriorated more since then, with sales now running at least a 15-year low, and analysts expect the fourth quarter to be even weaker with a recovery in industry sales unlikely to begin until 2010.

The four truck plants employ about 10,000 workers combined, with about 1,500 at the Moraine plant being covered by the agreement between GM and the IUE-CWA union.

Workers at Moraine voted 993-82 to accept the plant-closing deal in voting that concluded on Wednesday night, local president Gaylen Turner said.

The deal comes at a time when cash is crucial for GM, which has been burning through $1 billion per month. It was not immediately clear how big a charge GM would take for the plant closing.

Under the agreement, GM agreed to pay $1.6 billion into a health-care trust and to offer buyouts of up to $140,000 to the factory workers in exchange for closing the plant.

The health-care trust, a voluntary employee beneficiary association, or VEBA, for the IUE-CWA represented workers will be similar to a VEBA GM and the United Auto Workers worked out in the 2007 contract talks.

The UAW represents workers at all of GM's other assembly plants in the United States. The UAW-affiliated VEBA will be funded with $29.5 billion, including an initial contribution of $16 billion from an existing health-care trust account.

(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman)