DETROIT (By Micheline Maynard and Jeremy W. Peters, NYTimes) March 21, 2006 — The challenge that General Motors, Delphi and the United Automobile Workers have encountered in their talks on early retirement programs reflects the complexity in devising the perfect buyout.

The departure package is a crucial element in enticing workers off the payrolls at both General Motors and Delphi, which are now negotiating with the U.A.W. over the future of thousands of workers at both companies.

To be most effective, the package must convey to workers the bleak message that the companies they work for cannot prosper unless they leave. Workers must be convinced that this buyout deal is the best they can get — that the offer will not get sweeter as time goes on at either Delphi or G.M.

And there is a third factor, not written into the language of an offer.

Any buyout must be attractive enough for auto workers to give up a storied past where their security was guaranteed, something cash may not be enough to compensate for, and face a world where the pensions and other benefits they worked so long to achieve are by no means certain.

All of this is something that U.A.W. members may have difficulty accepting, no matter what black clouds are swirling above the Detroit skyline. To them, jobs at G.M. and at Delphi, which G.M. spun off in 1999, have been solid gold.

"They almost see their job as a property right," said Gary N. Chaison, professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Until the 1980's, jobs in car plants were often a ticket to a family's prosperity. Once hired, a worker could make the connections that would lead to positions for their relatives, sharing the good fortune among generations.

But Delphi's bankruptcy filing in October, and G.M.'s subsequent announcement that it would cut 30,000 jobs by 2008, have put an end to that idea — and made many workers more inclined to consider a buyout.

Thus far, they have been given nothing to consider. G.M. shares rose $1.15 on Tuesday, to $22. Several people close to the negotiations had expressed optimism late Monday and into Tuesday that a deal was close, but none has been announced.

If an agreement comes, the U.A.W. is expected to brief local union leaders on the details later this week. The pace of negotiations over early retirement packages has intensified in the last week, union officials said.

The talks have been spurred by a March 31 deadline set by the chief executive of Delphi, Robert S. Miller Jr., who has said he plans to ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to set aside labor contracts and impose less generous terms.

If that happens, Delphi workers have threatened to strike, an action that would cripple production at G.M., which is Delphi's biggest customer. That, in turn, could result in G.M.'s own bankruptcy filing, and its own threat to impose lower wage and benefit rates.

So the prospect that they will earn less money in the future may be an impetus for workers to accept a buyout plan. But that will not be easy for many of them; the safety net that they have come to rely on still exists and it is hard to imagine it going away.

U.A.W. members who worked at G.M. before Delphi was spun off — believed to be about 20,000 people — have the right to go back to G.M. But with the automaker already planning to cut jobs, there will not be enough open positions to accommodate them.

So unless they retire, many will eventually go into a program called the Jobs Bank, where they will receive full pay and benefits until the U.A.W.'s national contract expires in 2007.

G.M. has made no secret of its wish to abolish the Jobs Bank, and the U.A.W., which is taunted by tales of workers who are paid for doing nothing, may choose to fight for other job protections rather than continue a program that has become an embarrassment.

And without the Jobs Bank, a buyout may suddenly seem more attractive.

Professor Chaison said: "It's an endless stream of bad scenarios. A buyout might not be a good solution, but it may be a question of sell now, while it's worth something."

Just how much is not clear.

For its part, Ford Motor, which also plans to eliminate 30,000 jobs through 2012 — has found that a "one size fits all" approach is not enough.

To persuade its workers to leave instead of entering its equivalent of the Jobs Bank, Ford is offering a choice of five buyout packages. They include $35,000 in cash to workers who are already eligible for retirement, if they will go immediately.

Workers who have not clocked that much time can take $100,000 in cash to leave, but must give up all benefits except a pension. Ford also has an education plan that offers to pay workers half their base wages and up to $15,000 a year in tuition assistance for up to four years.

U.A.W. officials would not say whether a similar deal was on the table in the Delphi talks. And even if the two companies and the union can negotiate an agreement, more work lies ahead on an even trickier deal: the lower wage and benefit rates that Mr. Miller is demanding.

Said Professor Chaison: "No matter how hard they work on this, and no matter whether they shake hands at the end of the day, there will still be future confrontations and future bad news."