GM puts additional cash in pension plans

[Reuters]

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuter) - General Motors Corp. said Friday
it made an additional $1.5 billion cash contribution to its U.S.
pension plans last week, bringing its total contributions to the
plans since the beginning of 1994 to $17.2 billion.
Since the start of this year, GM has contributed a total of
$3.3 billion in cash to the plan, including the most recent
payment of $1.5 billion.
``We're eliminating a massive underfunding of our U.S.
employee pension plans,'' GM Chief Executive Officer Jack said
in remarks prepared for delivery at the company's annual
shareholder's meeting here.
Earlier this year, GM contributed about $6.3 billion in GM
Class E common stock to the plans.
Smith said the automaker will continue to build its
financial strength. ``We've strengthened our balance sheet. We
are buying up preference stocks that have costly payouts,'' he
said.
Smith said GM's productivity is improving. As an example, he
said it now takes the company 24 hours to build one of its
new-model Chevy Luminas, down from 30 hours in 1994.