GM to cut 30,000 jobs

Reuters, Bloomberg | 21 Nov, 2005 | Self

[12B]

Breaking on Bloomberg and Reuters. GM will cut 30,000 jobs in massive restructuring. More....

[staytrue]

If the only way to get rid of Unions is to let companies go bankrupt, then let them go bankrupt.

That is why public employee unions are so difficult to get rid of. We must demand tax cuts and keep them coming until they have to reform the public employee unions.

[Alberta's Child]

I think that's exactly what happened at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. If I remember correctly, it was a Ford plant at one time before it was closed in the 1980s. Nissan bought it and began operations sometime soon after, and basically hired most of the former UAW workers back. The UAW has been trying to unionize the plant for years since then, and consistently loses by wide margins.

[blackie]

I'm a retired big rig Teamster Union truck driver ~ you should get a grip then you would comprehend plain English ~ maybe.

[polymuser]

...what should have taken about 2 hours to install wound up taking all day...

Typical. For decades. Did you bring donuts? They'll actually do some work for donuts.

[Beagle8U]

"Why doesnt GM build more plants in 'right to work' states then?"

Right to work state or not, any big 3 auto plant in USA is automatically going to be a UAW plant.

If Michigan had a brain, and A Governor that wasn't a brainless, socialist, twit, She would demand that a Bill be written and passed making Michigan the newest RTW state.

It should also call for every existing Union job to re-vote to keep or reject the current union.

Thats the only way I can see MI. having ANY jobs left in a few years.
If Mi. loses 10,000 big-3 jobs, you can figure another 30,000 jobs lost at supplier plants in the state.
With every auto mfg. plant now working under a JIT (just in time) system, all parts suppliers must be close to the assembly plant.

The ripple effect of that many big-3 jobs lost would bankrupt the state within 2 years. ( Hell, its close to that now)

[ArcadeQuarters]

I wish GM would open a new plant so I could watch liberals protest the closings while simultaneously protesting the construction of a new plant.

[keats5]

Does anyone know anyone who buys cars new anymore?

[polymuser]

But they worked.

Yes, but they turned a blind eye to leadership's political actions, greed, corporation bashing, quality issues and uncompetitiveness. They're complicit.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

GM says: "Merry Christmas!"

[macamadamia]

However, the exhorbitant salaries, bonuses and other perks that often accompany the execs of today is, and I'll say it again, a sin. It is sinful.


Generally speaking I don't know what you're blubbering on about, but (regarding your sentence above) a salary itself is not sinful. What you DO with a salary, a tool, a rock, a political position can be.......quite sinful. Conversely, a person can do great things with a big salary. But if your worldview is Marxist.....well then money, a salary, and all that free-market, I mean capitalist, stuff is inherently evil.

Anyway, anyone who doesn't like what the "greedy" boss earns can find a job somewhere else! Its a big, big country....and so far fairly free.

[Spktyr]

Sort of. It looks like "generic FWD GM POS" with portholes tacked on to the fenders.

[Spktyr]

Specifically, it is enlightening to see what Henry Ford made, compared to his workers.

[Yossarian]

Yes, but they turned a blind eye to leadership's political actions, greed, corporation bashing, quality issues and uncompetitiveness. They're complicit.

Things are more complex than that. The UAW has elections, and much like US elections, what the candidates say they will do is often different from what they actually do.

Regarding quality issues: I can assure you that the guys on the line - at least the lines I was involved with - took a keen eye on quality issues. It often got to the point where if a supplier - manned by fellow UAW workers - were supplying bad quality parts, the workers would get together to write protest letters to their brethern at the supplier. They realized their jobs were on the line.....

Do all situations at UAW plants work out like that? No. Were things perfect? Hell, hell, hell no. Were there bad apples? Hell yes - in both management and union.

But still there are good people there too - and they don't deserve the broad brush being applied in this forum. It's like bashing California, home of the Robinsons and the FR server (as well as a lot of good FReepers like yours truely....)

[CSM]

"I am a Christian and what a lot of these big companies do is very un-Christian."

Please provide me examples of what "a lot" of these big companies do that is very un-Christian.

[CSM]

"If you have problems with men working OVERTIME that is an entirely different problem altogether."

Yes, I have a problem with them getting mandated overtime when they don't work their full shifts to begin with. Of course, I have been in these plants and seen it, now they complain that their OT has been cut. They get angry that they have to be production more than 4.5 hrs a day.

[hispanichoosier]

However, the exhorbitant salaries, bonuses and other perks that often accompany the execs of today is, and I'll say it again, a sin. It is sinful.

I disagree with this statement as a general priciple. If the executive adds value to his company and leads the company to prosperity, I do not believe that a high level of pay is sinful. He is, after all, using his God-given talents to the betterment of his fellow man.

If, however, the executive misleads shareholders and unlawfully withholds wages for actual work done, then I agree that that is sinful.

[hispanichoosier]

Please provide me examples of what "a lot" of these big companies do that is very un-Christian.

I can give you one example: many large corporations provide benefits to same-sex "partners."

[CSM]

"However, the exhorbitant salaries, bonuses and other perks that often accompany the execs of today is, and I'll say it again, a sin. It is sinful. While I believe capitalism and our way of life in this country is the best model on the planet, I do not worship money or the economy or any other thing above God or what I think his Word teaches. Shame on you and the others on here. Now maybe you are NOT a Christian and if so, then I understand."

You are the prime example of what Ayn Rand points out in "Atlas Shrugged." Without big "executives" getting exhorbinant wages, you wouldn't be able to post to FR and witness to us all. Yet, you would like to look down your nose at these folks as sinners.

Go back to church, you need some more learnin.

[RetiredArmy]

The UAW ain't gonna like this.

Right, something like this might drive them to vote for democrats. (sarcasm still on!)

[hispanichoosier]

But still there are good people there too - and they don't deserve the broad brush being applied in this forum.

I apologize if my comments were a negative reflection on any individual UAW member. In no way did I intend to demonize individuals. The reality is, however, that the UAW machinery works very hard to elect Democrat politicians who are on the wrong side of important moral issues, regardless of whether individual members support those same candidates or not. This pattern has continued for years, and the rank-and-file seemingly do not care; I have yet to see a revolt among UAW members who are angered because their leadership works to elect pro-gay, pro-abortion politicians. As a result, I tend to view the rank-and-file as complicit (though perhaps only passively) with the actions of their union leadership.