The head of the United Auto Workers union, Ron Gettelfinger, predicts between 15,000 and 20,000 UAW members employed by General Motors will accept the company's buyout offer, paving the way for re-hires at lower wages.

During the last buyout in 2006 about a third of the unionized employees at GM accepted the deal, creating a mass exodus of 34,410 workers. Currently there are 74,000 UAW workers employed by the company.

Of those, 21,500 have been with GM for 30 years or longer. These workers have been offered lump sum payments ranging from $45,000 to $62,500 with full retirement benefits. Additionally, offers for early retirement have been made in addition to cash buyouts of as much as $140,000 for those willing to give up health care and other benefits.

Although Gettelfinger said he expected the offers to generate "a lot of interest," he also pointed to the week economy and current mortgage crisis as factors that would make many workers reluctant to give up their paychecks.

In comments reported in the New York Times, Gettelfinger said, "Some people have planned on retiring and leaving the state. Would you do that right now, knowing what the housing market is? You've got all these factors that weren't here a year and a half ago."

Other workers will be discouraged from leaving by former workers who now regret having accepted a buyout, said Gettelfinger. These individuals, he said, find out that "it's tougher out here than [they] thought it would be."