Saturn to hire up to 750 temps

Up to 750 temporary workers will be hired for General Motors’ Saturn assembly plant over the next several months to replace employees who accepted the company’s national buyout plan.

United Auto Workers officials said the union agreed to the temporary workers, who also will cover for employees on vacation.

The company can “bring in temporary workers as the need arises to help with the transition as team members take advantage of incentives offered with the early retirement program,” said Mike Herron, U.A.W. Local 1853 chairman, said Tuesday.

Herron declined to say how many workers at the Spring Hill plant about 30 miles south of Nashville accepted the buyout. GM spokeswoman Kate Neary said the company didn’t yet have a firm count but expected one within the next several weeks.

After the buyout was announced in November, GM estimated between 40 and 50 percent of the eligible 1,800 Spring Hill workers would take the offer.

More than 100,000 GM employees nationwide would receive anywhere between $35,000 and $140,000, depending on their seniority, as part of the buyout package.

Meanwhile, a decision is pending on which models will be built at the Spring Hill plant as GM undergoes a companywide restructuring. The Ion subcompact and Vue sport utility vehicle are built there now.

Demand for the Ion has risen since GM announced production would cease at Spring Hill in December.

“We do know we’ll be building new product, but they haven’t let us know what that product will be. By the middle of next year we’ll be able to build anything GM needs,” Herron said.

The plant opened in 1990 exclusively making Saturns. GM has pledged assembly line renovations that could allow the production of other brands.