They should rephrase it..as, "we are cutting out BUICK.."
Will close 12 facilities determined by plant age.
The UAW ain't gonna like this.
Sad. But necessary considering GM isn't in the Auto manufacturing business anymore..........Health care is their new business.......
Well at least the union retirees still have a job.
Aanyone heard if the Arlington TX plant will be shut down?
They do build some of the larger vehicles there.
Employees at GM make 3 times as much as I do doing the same job. I'm afraid "cradle to grave" is dead.
As they say... you can thank a union!
To get some idea of the magnitude of this cut, consider that only a few companies in America even have 30,000 employees.
The health & pension company is finally cutting back on its automobile hobby.
GM's troubles are top-to-bottom. Those that have been taking what they can, while they can, abound throughout the organization, from board member to sweeper. And most all of them know it. Their suppliers have been seeing it for a long time, and aren't surprised, just preparing to hurt worse now that the fan is spewing solids. Sad for America. Caused by Americans.
I smell a new Michael Moore movie in the works: "Rick and Me."
No surprise here. I'd be interested to see how this 30,000 breaks down in terms of union vs. middle management, etc. I suspect that a lot of their union contracts are such that it's harder to lay off an assembly line worker than a mid-level manager.
These stories always put me in a pickle. I'm saddened that 30K Americans will lose jobs because their families will still need food and shelter. On the other hand, any time the UAW or any other union loses membership, it means fewer Dem workers and $$$.
Wonder if Toyota will buy them out?
GM offers too many types of cars. They need to scale back and increase quality. They are still better than Ford but cannot touch Honda or Toyota.
I bought 2 Honda's this year and sold my old Honda that had over 250K miles for a great price. I expect to run these two until the wheels fall off.
I do drive a Chevy Silverado ;) Can't bring myself to buy a foreign truck...
The presence of health insurance changed all that. When the "patient" perceived that they were not paying for their health care out of their own pocketbook, costs began their astronomic upward trend. Demand increased dramatically, and when prices zoomed upward, no one complained, no one comparison shopped, and everything just went out of control.
We would be so much better off if the concept of "health insurance" had never surfaced in this world.
URGENT
GM to close Spring Hill plant, 8 others and cut 30,000 jobs
Eds: ADDS 7 grafs with more locations of facilities, background; also moving nationally.
By DEE-ANN DURBIN
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. announced plans Monday to cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain facilities, including the plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand.
Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world’s largest automaker, announced the closures during a speech to employees from GM’s Detroit headquarters before the financial markets opened. Wagoner said GM also will close three service and parts operations facilities.
“The decisions we are announcing today were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work,” Wagoner said. “But these actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible.”
The Saturn plant in Spring Hill is one of Middle Tennessee’s largest employers, with about 5,700 workers.
GM said the plan is to achieve $7 billion in cost reductions on a running rate basis by the end of 2006 — $1 billion above its previously indicated target. The number of job cuts also was above earlier estimates. GM said earlier this year it planned to cut 25,000 jobs by 2008, mostly through attrition.
Besides Spring Hill, GM said the plants that will close are in Oklahoma City, Lansing, Mich., Doraville, Ga., and Ontario, Canada.
An engine facility in Flint, Mich., will close, along with a powertrain facility in Ontario and metal centers in Lansing and Pittsburgh.
Parts distribution centers in Ypsilanti, Mich., and Portland, Ore., also will close, as well as one other to be announced later. A shift also will be removed at a plant in Moraine, Ohio.
Wagoner said last month the automaker would announce plant closures by the end of this year to get its capacity in line with U.S. demand. GM plants currently run at 85 percent of their capacity, lower than North American plants run by its Asian rivals. The plant closings aren’t expected to be final until GM’s current contract with the United Auto Workers expires in 2007.
GM has been crippled by high labor, pension, health care and materials costs as well as by sagging demand for sport utility vehicles, its longtime cash cows, and by bloated plant capacity. Its market share has been eroded by competition from Asian automakers led by Toyota Motor Corp. GM lost nearly $4 billion in the first nine months of this year.
The automaker could be facing a strike at Delphi Corp., its biggest parts supplier, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. GM spun off Delphi in 1999 and could be liable for billions in pension costs for Delphi retirees.
GM also is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting errors.
Last week, after the automaker’s shares fell to their lowest level in 18 years, Wagoner sent an e-mail to employees saying the company has a turnaround strategy in place and has no plans to file for bankruptcy.