So according to the terms of its contract with the United Auto Workers, GM is temporarily allowing many employees to serve in community service jobs. As many as 200 employees a day have been working with nonprofit and community groups throughout the region since mid-March. Workers have been performing tasks such as restocking shelves, trimming vegetation and building fences for as many as 170 charity groups, union leaders said. The program is part of a labor agreement that ensures workers can return to GM's payroll after 42 weeks of layoff. About 490 workers were laid off last year and are covered by the contract.
Workers can go back to their former wage level by helping charities.
Anderson was laid off from the plant's paint shop and is working at the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. He said he has been doing a variety of tasks, including painting, stocking streams with fish, building fences and planting sea grass and trees. Saturn, which makes its L-Series cars at the plant near Newport, cut back from two shifts per day to one last June because sales of the midsize sedans and wagons fell below Saturn's projections during their first year on the market. State labor officials said the company benefits from the job-security program because it keeps a pool of trained workers. Government and nonprofit leaders who depend on volunteer services said the arrangement has given them some much-needed muscle.