Sep 12, 2008 - 12:49 PM

By Melissa Mancini

OSHAWA -- Trish McAuliffe gave General Motors her walking papers this week.

The road to retirement has been a bumpy one for Ms. McAuliffe. She has been an employee of the company for more than 25 years and her husband Jim has worked there for 24.

"We're sore, we've put in all we can," Ms. McAuliffe said of her colleagues at GM plants.

After years of working jobs with many repetitive motions Ms. McAuliffe now has wearing down of the muscle tissues in her arms and an over-extension of the nerves in her arms and neck.

"As we age in this type of work it's that much more difficult," she said.

There is no coverage for physiotherapy in her benefit package, so Ms. McAuliffe has been paying for the treatments out of her own pocket. She said it has been worth it because in the three weeks she has been going she has noticed significant improvement.

The injury has made day-to-day life difficult. Everyday tasks like washing the floor, scrubbing the bathtub and even hair-brushing can be painful or impossible, she said.

"When you can't lift your hands over your shoulders any longer or reach within a distance comfortably it does affect your lifestyle and your family."

The pain is present all day and doesn't go away, she said.

The constant pain is one of the reasons she has chosen to take the grow-into-retirement plan offered to workers who have been with GM for 26 or more years. The offer came in July as a result of bargaining after GM announced its intention to shut down the truck plant.

As part of the package workers with between 26 and 29 years of GM work will be paid 65 per cent of their wage from the day they leave until they hit 30 years seniority. After 30 years they will get retirement benefits. They will also receive a car voucher and a lump sum payment of between $50,000 to $96,000 depending on years of service and job in the plant.

The mother of two "gets goose bumps" when she thinks about the career she might start now that her days at GM are numbered, she said. She intends to go back to school and a start a career in the area of workers' rights and social justice.

But even though she has applied for the package it doesn't mean she will be leaving quite yet. The grow-into-retirement leave will be determined by the company by market conditions so she will be working until someone tells her not to come to work.

Mr. McAuliffe has six years to go before retirement, so she missed this opportunity by about a year and half.

"I can go, give others like my husband the chance to get their 30 (years of employment) and I can adjust my lifestyle and my living to look toward the future," she said. "It's been a long haul and it's been taxing," she said.

The CAW said there are at least 2,097 workers are eligible for the grow-into retirement package. Sept. 12 is the last day for workers to choose to take the package.