Workers at General Motors' Doraville plant are used to gloomy news —- after all, the plant is closing in 10 weeks.

But plans to cut white-collar salary costs by 20 percent, trim truck production and limit retiree health care costs gave the workers pause Tuesday when considering their own future.

For one thing, the cutbacks limit opportunities for as many as 250 Doraville employees hoping to land at a plant elsewhere because the company is retrenching.

"Some of them are on a list to go anywhere that will hire them. Today's announcement makes that more difficult," said Claude Willis III, the shop chairman for United Auto Workers Local 10 and a plant employee for 32 years.

Kathy Fowler, financial secretary treasurer for Local 10, said the phone rang off the hook Tuesday at the union hall on Buford Highway.

"If GM is slashing benefits for white-collar employees, we're all thinking, 'What's in store for us?' " said Fowler, who has 29 years at the plant and will retire next year under an agreed-upon exit plan. "When the retirees get their minds to wandering, they think that anything can happen. And many times, they're right."

She knows several workers who could have retired and taken a lump payout, but they want to transfer to another city because they're not ready to retire.

"They have their name on a list and are ready to go," Fowler said. "They are rolling the dice, hoping to get their time in to get 30 years" for full retirement.

Currently, there are 1,028 union employees at the plant, including 388 temporary workers filling in for those who have retired or taken buyouts, said Willis. More than 400 will retire before or when the plant closes. There were about 3,000 workers at the plant that manufactures minivans when its closing was announced in 2005.

There are currently about 90 white-collar workers at the plant, the company said. Union workers said several of those are retirees called back to fill in for others who have moved on to other plants.

GM officials say the property, which sprawls over 165 acres, would make an ideal spot for a mixed-use development with shops, offices and homes. Local officials hope redevelopment of the site could be even more grand than Atlantic Station, the giant development in Midtown.

Bidding on the property closed this month, and GM is evaluating the proposals.

Willis said about 25 union workers have in the past six weeks transferred to the plant in Bowling Green, Ky., that manufactures Chevrolet Corvettes. "People are trying to keep their options open," he said.

One worker with that strategy is Caz Socha, a maintenance worker with 30 years at GM.

"I can retire, I got 30 years, but I'm too young. I'm 47," he said. He wants to go to Fairfax, Kan., which builds the Chevrolet Malibu. If chosen to go there, he would have to go back to working the production line, but that's OK, he said.

"It's building a brand new model," he said. "It's one of the hottest places to go. They're on overtime."

Willis said the mood at the plant is upbeat, which surprises some visitors.

"It's an inverse trend. It's kind of weird; people expect we'd be depressed," he said. "People here are very proud. They want to go out on a high note."

There is life after GM, Willis said —- especially for those there long enough to exit with a retirement.

"But if the economy stays like it is, some will have to get second jobs," he said.

Willis knows two retirees who are elevator inspectors, another drives a bus part-time and some have started businesses.

His plan? "I don't want a real job," the 56-year-old said.

"I'm tired of real jobs."