Thursday was big day for General Motors. Company officials announced record breaking profits.
The American automaker made $7.6 billion in 2011. That's up 62 percent from the year before. The earnings mean union workers will now get a profit sharing check of $7,000.
Some of those workers say their check is well deserved.
""They're getting a little chunk of what they give every day... walking into that job and building world class vehicles," said Kevin Baker, UAW 602 vice president.
The workers are getting something back after giving up so much.
"Yeah.. It's been hard," said Christie Medina.
Medina is an assembly line worker at the Lansing Delta plant. She gave up her life in Tennessee and moved here two years ago.
"I was one of the transferees from Spring Hill who had to make the big sacrifice and move my family up here," said Medina.
But that's not the only sacrifice she said union workers have made. She says they haven't gotten raises, they take shorter breaks and they have shorter work weeks. Now, a little relief is on the way.
"It means a lot, it's gunna help pay off some bills...We've all worked pretty hard for it and made a lot of sacrifices and it's a nice feeling," said Medina.
It's a feeling one of the local UAW vice presidents says is well deserved.
"They come in every day, and with all the uncertainty, and all the fear of things that could of happened and that was going to happen, they still came in and build world class vehicles, that just amazes me," said Baker.
GM officials also announced some changes for salaried workers Thursday. The company says 19,000 salaried workers who've been covered by GM's pension plan will now be moved to a 401k plan instead.
But officials add workers won't lose any of the pension benefits they've accumulated so far.
