GM Retirees Polled on Possible Pension Buyouts

Polling firm Gallup Inc. has been contacting some General Motors Co. salaried retirees to ask whether they would accept a lump-sum pension buyout if the carmaker were to offer it, Automotive News reports.

The news service says word of the queries was posted on the Web site of the General Motors Retirees Assn. GM has not said whether it commissioned the poll.

The one-time payout would end the obligation of GM's pension fund to make monthly payments to retirees who accepted the program. The company's $108.6 billion U.S. pension plan was underfunded by $13.3 billion at the end of 2011.

Ford Motor Co. said last month it would begin offering pension buyouts to its 90,000 U.S. employees and retirees in the third quarter.