GM aims to peg UAW worker pay to performance

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (Reuters) - A top General Motors Co executive said on Thursday that the company wants to share financial gains with its union-represented auto workers by increasing compensation based on producing quality vehicles.

"We want to share in a performance culture in this company, and I don't care who you are, but you ought to be (judged) based on quality performance, on sales performance, on product performance." GM North America President Mark Reuss told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Reuss said those are the standards by which GM's managers, including himself, are judged.

"Quality is the biggest one that our hourly workers can have an impact on and so I want that one to be the upside," Reuss said.

"We want to be competitive on the wages. We want to pay for the performance. That's what we want in this culture," he said.

GM and the other two Detroit automakers are now in talks with the United Auto Workers which represents about 49,000 GM hourly production auto workers.

GM, Fiat-managed Chrysler Group, and Ford Motor Co are expected to base increased compensation largely on profit-sharing bonuses rather than higher wages.

The current UAW contracts with each of the Detroit automakers expire on September 14.

GM reported a near doubling of second-quarter profit earlier on Thursday, though its shares fell on concerns over a sputtering economy and resurgent Japanese rivals.

GM shares were down 2.5 percent at $26.50 in late morning on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall and Deepa Seetharaman, editing by Matthew Lewis)