Free Republic

TORONTO - The Canadian Auto Workers union said negotiating with the big three automakers - General Motors, Chrysler and Ford - before Monday's midnight strike deadline is like juggling "a lot of balls up in the air." If the CAW, which represents 21,500 members in the three companies, doesn't reach a settlement with the big three, it could mean a walkout could start at 12:01 a.m. Monday. "It's a little tough to tell at this point in time what the impact will be because it depends upon status of bargaining with each of the three companies," CAW secretary treasurer Peter Kennedy said...

China to launch case against U.S. Big Three automakers Doug Palmer Thu, Oct 29 08:37 AM China has told the United States it is launching a trade investigation that could lead to new import duties on autos and sports utility vehicles made by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, a U.S. industry official said on Wednesday. The action comes as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are in China for high-level talks aimed at resolving trade irritants between the two countries. President Barack Obama, who will visit China in mid-November, angered Beijing last...

Global markets dive as Obama rejects carmakers' plea Christine Seib in New York Global stock markets dived today after the White House denied General Motors (GM) and Chrysler multi-billion dollar bailouts and threatened to push the ailing carmakers into bankruptcy if they do not implement aggressive restructuring plans. The Obama Administration effectively seized control of the companies – ousting General Motors’ chairman and chief executive and pushed Chrysler toward a merger – after finding that the carmakers’ own restructuring plans “did not establish a credible path to viability”. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 215.37 points to 7,560.81 within minutes...

Capitol Hill Republicans threw the first legislative punch in the fight over union law on Wednesday, February 25. But Democrats could land a haymaker of their own later with a bill that is much more likely to obtain congressional approval. Members of the House and Senate GOP introduced a bill that would mandate secret-ballot elections to form a union. The measure is meant to counter a bill Democrats could debut any day that would make it easier for employees to organize. Called the Employee Free Choice Act, the Democratic bill would force companies to recognize unions when a majority of...

An assistance program empowering welfare recipients that also helps the auto industry. No handouts, No bailouts.

Local News crew catches UAW workers taking 4 hour drinking breaks at local bar - day after day. Go to the link to watch the video

I've received this 'funny' about 40 times in email. It's good, but not a single mention of the UAW. What I'd like to see is a nice jpeg response to send back of a bunch of UAW guys sitting around reading a newspaper saying the same thing! "You pay us either way, baby!" with a big UAW emblem in the corner.Something like that.

Low Gas Prices Dream and Nightmare By Jerry Flint WardsAuto.com, Dec 15, 2008 8:37 AM CommentaryThe Mobile service station near me on Route 9 in upstate New York recently was selling gasoline at about $2 per gallon and diesel at $3 when I filled up. In much of the U.S., folks are paying a lot less. There even is talk of gasoline falling below $1 per gallon. Of course, we all expect prices will climb again, maybe to $3 or $4 per gallon. But what if they don’t? What if the global recession and falling consumption keeps prices at $2...

Debunking Myths About Detroit By John McElroy WardsAuto.com, Dec 11, 2008 9:53 AM CommentaryThe debate about bailing out Detroit’s auto makers has hit a fever pitch. Everybody wants to weigh in with their opinion. The louder they rant, and the crazier their claims, the more coverage they get. Strangely, the media are devoting far more attention to the $34 billion bridge loan auto makers are requesting than the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry. How does that make us a better informed citizenry? There always are two sides to every argument, but this discussion shows how much misinformation, misperception...

DETROIT (AP) -- Festering animosity between the United Auto Workers and Southern senators who torpedoed the auto industry bailout bill erupted into full-fledged name calling Friday as union officials accused the lawmakers of trying to break the union on behalf of foreign automakers. The vitriol had been near the surface for weeks as senators from states that house the transplant automakers' factories criticized the Detroit Three for management miscues and bloated UAW labor costs that lawmakers said make them uncompetitive. But the UAW stopped biting its tongue after Republicans sank a House-passed bill Thursday night that would have loaned $14...

. . . for a month, that is. And the Republicans are showing some moxie in siding with the American people, who are not getting any bailout from anyone. The prospects of a $14 billion government rescue of the American auto industry seemed to vaporize Thursday as the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke out forcefully against the bill, effectively ending its chances despite the urgings of the White House. More . . .

One more time people. The House failed to stop this thing yesterday, owing to overwhelming support from the Democrats (surprise)...but now it's up to the Senate. And it's up to us to let them know we oppose this boondoggle. Detroit's Big 3 automakers - and the labor unions - want 15 billion of your tax dollars as a down-payment on a bailout that some economists say could reach over 100 billion dollars. Tell our Senators to tell them NO. Keep in mind, this comes after over a trillion dollars in bailouts for banks and insurance companies already this year -...

The mission of this website is hilarious Our mission is to demonstrate Senator Shelby what the result will be by not supporting the state of Alabama and its industries, (true American industries, not foreign companies that assemble products in the U.S.). We are starting a nationwide boycott of Alabama that will include any travel into the state well as boycotting the purchase of anything produced in any way within the state. The sad but necessary part of this initiative is that many innocent hard working people will be hurt. Just as many innocent hard working people in the Big Three,...

We're in the City of Angels this week to drive a bunch of new Fords, including the new 2010 Mustang and Fusion. We started off Monday afternoon with a mileage challenge in the new 2010 Fusion Hybrid.

Diede Silva dos Santos, 24, is a worker trained for 7 different skills in the Ford Camacari plant. When I read this story, it occurred to me if I were CEO of Ford, I would be tempted to tell Washington to keep their money.  I would just phase out North American operations, move to Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro and operate Ford as an international automaker without a presence in the USA.  My life and the profitability and health of the comany would be stronger and simpler.  Life is not that easy, but surely it has crossed the minds of senior management at Ford. As...

When the government takes over an industry, there are no market forces in play; politicians who no nothing about running anything decide they know how to revive a flagging industry; and new products are made based on Congressional political agendas rather than a public demand. When the British did a "bailout" 40 years, it was the end of the British auto industry. Congress is about to do the same thing. More . . .

By now I'm sure most of us have seen the result of a week or so of intensive image counseling with the CEO's of the "Big 3" automakers out of Detroit. While the three most powerful men in the American auto industry are selling their souls to "bail out" their companies, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is telling us that the auto industry in his state is strong. No matter which way you look at it or whether or not you support floating tax dollars to mismanaged companies, it raises some interesting questions. 1. Why are the "Big 3" in...

Ford, Chrysler and GM's contributions after 9/11 An interesting commentary...You might find this of interest: 'CNN Headline News did a short news listing regarding Ford and GM's contributions to the relief and recovery efforts in New York and Washington.

This is the Tale of Two Fords: One saddled with an anti-capitalist, industry-killing, bailout-needing union; the other in a capitalist free market. Video More . . .

“GM will seek to negotiate a cut in debt levels and new union work rules to help boost its chances of winning federal loans, according to a published report.”

DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. may sell its fleet of five corporate jets after top executives of the three Detroit automakers were harshly criticized by members of Congress this week for their travel expenses. In a statement issued Friday, Ford (F, Fortune 500) said it is exploring all options for the fleet, which it said has been reduced from nine in 2005. "Ford's top priority is to continue making progress on our transformation plan, and we do not want anything to distract us," spokesman Mark Truby said in a statement. "We are exploring all cost-effective solutions for our air...

After two days of congressional hearings into a proposed $25 billion automotive industry bailout, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski disagreed on the urgency for it. “I am not yet convinced that Congress must act so rashly,” Mr. Kanjorski said during a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where the chief executives of the Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers Union testified. Mr. Kanjorski is a committee member. The hearing was streamed over the Internet through the committee’s Web site. Mr. Casey, a Banking Committee member who heard from the executives...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable. "Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in the Capitol. She and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Congress would return to work in early December to vote on legislation if General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC produce an acceptable plan. The decision averted a likely defeat of...

We gave you all the details on the 2010 Ford Fusion, Fusion Sport, and 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid at the break of day and now we've got the live reveal from the floor of the LA Auto Show. The trio of Fusionistas made their debut moments ago to bombastic loads of PR praise. If the improvements Ford is touting stand up to scrutiny, the Fusion stands to make some serious waves in the C/D sedan segment. We approve pretty solidly of the styling changes, the six speed manual and auto on the regular Fusion and the well thought out hybrid...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Democratic Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president. Caught in the middle of a who-blinks-first standoff are legions of manufacturing firms and auto dealers — and millions of Americans' jobs — after Senate Democrats canceled a showdown vote that had been expected Thursday. President George W. Bush has "no appetite" to act on his own.

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.

Toyota, BMW, Hyundai Workers' Senators Oppose Rescue

The Big Three on the brink -- Detroit’s automakers face an uphill battle at the Capitol that could be do-or-die this week.

The Democrats are having a hard time selling the bailout of General Motors because nearly everyone has suffered the agony of buying a car. That's how the "used-car salesman," fair or not, became the American icon of deception, fraud and thievery. Maybe it's true that GM is "too big to fail," though from all the available evidence GM is succeeding spectacularly at failure. What the pols and their lobbyist buddies really mean with their used-car salesman's spiel is that GM is "too big for Joe Sixpack to let fail."

How does a big check make a better, cheaper Pontiac?

As President-elect Obama prepares to enter the White House, he must ponder what to do about the world's trouble spots: Iran, Iraq, North Korea, the Caucasus. And, oh yes, Detroit. On Friday, General Motors and Ford announced more multibillion-dollar losses in the third quarter; closely held Chrysler doesn't publicly report results. When GM, which seems in the worst shape, was 45 minutes late releasing its results, rumors spread that a bankruptcy filing was imminent. It wasn't, but the company says it could run out of cash in the first half of next year. Make that the first quarter if the...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urging him to assist the Big Three auto makers by considering broadening the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to help the troubled industry. The two top Democratic leaders in Congress are likely to make the request in a letter to the White House, which could be forwarded as soon as Saturday afternoon, said individuals familiar with the matter. President-elect Barack Obama is generally supportive of the appeal, but at the moment is moving on his own track to assist the industry,...

BIG THREE FAILURES COULD COST 3 MILLION JOBS. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Center for Automotive Research says nearly 3 million Americans would lose their jobs in a single year if the Big Three carmakers shut down. CAR says the job toll is magnified because many American suppliers would fail, temporarily shutting down the U.S. plants of foreign-brand OEMs. In the first year, CAR says, personal income would be slashed by $125 billion. The federal government would lose $60 billion from unemployment payments and lost tax revenue and Social Security receipts. CAR’s alternate scenario considered the effect if one or more...

Should Detroit have seen this disaster coming? Yes. Gasoline prices have been climbing steadily for more than three years now. The Bush-Bernanke debasement of the dollar didn't do Detroit any favors, because the dollar's collapse has contributed mightily to the soaring price of crude oil. But the Detroit Three stuck with a business model based on leasing SUVs for way too long. The two things wrong with that model were, well, leasing and SUVs. The residual values on which SUV lease payments are based turned out to be enormously inflated. With gas around $4 a gallon, the auto makers can't...

Having made tremendous headway in the US market with its small, energy efficient petrol-electric hybrid cars, Toyota is getting ready to take on its US rivals on their home turf with an American model of its own. Toyota's Tundra pick-up truck is the Japanese company's first all-American vehicle, completely designed and manufactured in the good 'ol US of A. Toyota's Tundra: designed, built and marketed in the USA "The Asian automakers have cornered the market on vanilla," says Global Insight automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland. "Now they're adding the hot fudge chocolate with cherries on top, which is what they...

by Mark Finkelstein September 2, 2006 - 06:40 That's not a typo in the headline. According to this Wall Street Journal article reprinted in the Star-Telegram, "on average, GM pays $81.18 an hour in wages and benefits to U.S. hourly workers, including pension and retiree medical costs." But in his vituperative rant against the Big Three U.S. automakers, Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson manages to ignore the huge labor cost advantage enjoyed by non-union Toyota. How much of an advantage? According to that same article, "Harbour Consulting President Ron Harbour estimates Toyota's total hourly U.S. labor costs, with benefits,...

The current U.S. expansion has lifted the fortunes of nearly every state in the country, with the notable exception of Michigan, which is busy reclaiming its 1970s's title as home of the rust belt. Sad to say, politicians in both parties are only making things worse. Amid the decline of the Big Three auto companies, Michigan ranked last in income growth last year and was the only state not hit by a hurricane to have lost jobs. United Van Lines reports that more people moved out of Michigan last year than in any year since 1982, when the state jobless...

Not only is the world different now, but what we know of what’s past is often wrong "It is unfair for us to complain about American jobs in the automotive industry being outsourced to other countries when Japanese, German and Korean automakers are outsourcing their formerly home-done jobs to the United States. There are now 23 foreign-owned car and parts plants operating in North America, and more are coming." “The biggest drain on GM’s profitability is their welfare system. It is their health care obligations and their pension obligations. The SUV is not killing them, and don’t let the media...

By 2006-07, industry expects to deliver 18 million vehicles for the first time in history The U.S. auto industry is poised for a record-setting rebound fueled by job growth, a manufacturing recovery and increased consumer buying power, General Motors Corp.’s top sales analyst said Monday. New car and truck sales should top 17 million units next year, exceeding this year’s 16.9 million sales pace, said Paul Ballew, executive director of market and industry analysis for General Motors Corp. It would the first time in four years auto sales have increased over the previous year. And by "the (2006-07) time frame,"...