General Motors yesterday said it would axe 14 per cent of its white-collar jobs and cut or review salaries and benefits globally as it worked to hammer out a restructuring plan due next week.

The job cuts will take place this year and reduce GM's salaried workforce by about 10,000 to 63,000. In its home US market, about 3,400 of its 29,500 employees will be affected.

GM said it was cutting executives' base pay by 10 per cent and that of many of its other salaried employees by three to seven per cent as of May 1. It said its other global operations were reviewing pay and benefits.

The company, which is receiving an emergency $13.4bn government bridge loan, promised to cut its white-collar staff in a presentation to Congress in December. GM is due to present government with proposals for its long-term viability by February 17.

GM's total worldwide payroll, including blue-collar workers, has fallen from 327,000 at the end of 2005 to 252,000 as of the end of September 2008.

As it scrambles to avoid bankruptcy, GM and its advisers are exploring two different bankruptcy scenarios, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

Harvey Miller, a restructuring partner at law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges, is preparing a “traditional” bankruptcy filing for the company. Such a plan would aim to restructure the company in court using common bankruptcy techniques such as slashing labour, supply and overhead costs.

The other plan, developed by Martin Bienenstock, a restructuring partner with Dewey & LeBoeuf, is more ambitious. Mr Bienenstock proposes that GM separate its best brands and assets into a viable company.

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通用汽車(General Motors)昨天宣布，將裁減14%的白領(lǐng)職位，并在全球范圍內(nèi)削減或重審工資與福利。目前，通用汽車正在努力制定一項應(yīng)于下周公布的重組計劃。

此次裁員將在今年執(zhí)行，將把通用汽車員工數(shù)量減少1萬，至6.3萬人。在美國國內(nèi)市場總計2.95萬名員工中，約有3400人將被裁減。

通用汽車稱，自今年5月1日起，公司管理層的基本薪酬將降低10%，其他員工的薪酬也將削減3至7個百分點。公司表示，旗下其它全球運營部門也在重審薪資和福利。

在12月向美國國會提交的報告中，獲得政府134億美元緊急過渡貸款的通用汽車承諾，將裁減其白領(lǐng)職員的人數(shù)。按照計劃，通用汽車將在2月17日之前向政府遞交關(guān)于其長期生存問題的計劃書。

到2008年9月底，通用汽車的全球雇員數(shù)量（包括藍領(lǐng)工人）已從2005年底的32.7萬減少至25.2萬。

據(jù)知情人士透露，就在公司想方設(shè)法避免破產(chǎn)之際，通用及其顧問機構(gòu)也在研究兩種不同的破產(chǎn)方案。

威嘉律師事務(wù)所(Weil Gotshal & Manges)的重組合伙人哈維?米勒(Harvey Miller)，正為通用準備一項“傳統(tǒng)的”破產(chǎn)方案。該方案旨在依靠法庭，使用常規(guī)破產(chǎn)手段來重組公司，如裁員、裁減供應(yīng)商和營運成本等。

另一項方案較為野心勃勃，由杜威路博國際律師事務(wù)所(Dewey & LeBoeuf)負責重組業(yè)務(wù)的合伙人馬丁?賓斯托克(Martin Bienenstock)擬訂。賓斯托克建議通用汽車將旗下最好的幾個品牌和資產(chǎn)剝離出來，成立一個更具生存能力的公司。

（轉(zhuǎn)載）