General Motors - Rick Wagoner's comments (FR 1st to know)

self | 7/15/2008 | Eddie01

[Eddie01]

Rick Wagoner just finished briefing the employees, here are a few highlights...

Cut truck production by 300,000 units

Next gen truck development suspended

Retirees will lose health care at age 65, but pensions will get a bump to fund private health care, plus medicade/medicare kick in then

All salaried employee merit increase and bonuses eliminated (inc. execs) through the end of 2009

Engineering levels to be at 2006-2007 levels, no new hiring + head count reductions

No mention of salary decreases

Buyouts, MSP (mutual separation packages) and "other separation strategies" will be rolled out.

Investment in small engine development and alternative propulsion systems to increase.

Asset sales (~2-4 billion)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

What’s being sold off ?

[xDGx]

They need to fire their chief designer.

[Eddie01]

unspecified, although I suspect underutilized facilities are a big part of it.

[sweetiepiezer]

Getting really scary.

[gridlock]

These are all the right moves.

I think GM will be a major success story, five years from now. They are starting to bring in their successful European designs, which will work well in our new $4/gallon environment. The new Cruze compact will have a small displacement/high boost engine that will deliver about 1 hp per 10 CC. GM is better positioned to make this shift than either Ford or Chrysler (or BMW, Mercedes or Toyota, for that matter).

[Ratblaster]

How about building cars that people want to buy?

[gridlock]

Getting really scary.

Scary is when they do nothing. Scary is when they drive off the bridge without tapping the brakes.

GM has to do this, so it is a good thing that they are doing this. It is a company, not a jobs program. It is a manufacturer, not a health-care provider. It is time to get back basics.

[Red_Devil 232]

These are all the right moves.

If they were to get rid of the unions they might survive.

[bvw]

Honest optimism is a better thing to grab a hold of, and it is always yours for the taking. Whereas pessimism throws itself at you like a cold-wet blanket — always best skippered away from. Take hold of your tiller and make for some positive outlook yonder.

[scooby321]

UAW keeps sending the Democrats your money so they can put you on unemployment along with the teamsters and airline unions. Dummies

[Notary Sojac]

Take hold of your tiller and make for some positive outlook yonder.

You mean like these guys?

“[House] price increases largely reflect strong economic fundamentals, including robust growth in jobs and incomes, low mortgage rates, steady rates of household formation, and factors that limit the expansion of housing supply in some areas.” — Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Oct. 20, 2005

“[The housing downturn] looks to be a very orderly and moderate kind of cooling.” — Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, May 18, 2006

“All the signs I look at [show] the housing market is at or near the bottom.” — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, April 20, 2007

“I don’t see [subprime mortgage market troubles] imposing a serious problem. I think it’s going to be largely contained.” — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, April 20, 2007

“Given the fundamental factors in place that should support the demand for housing, we believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited.” — Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, May 17, 2007

[ken21]

i remember in the 1980s reading articles about gm’s bloated management and plush union deals.

and i even met people that worked at gm and quit and went into the defense industry because they couldn’t stand the bureaucracy.

but, gm ignored critics, saying that they knew their business better than you.

not to mention some of the crappy gm cars i’ve owned.

so, i do not care. comeuppance, long over due.

[jalisco555]

The only encouraging thing he could have done is to fire himself and all of top management (maybe excluding Lutz). The management team responsible for the meltdown of GM’s market share and market cap will still be in place. This is the worst case of Board of Directors malfeasance I’ve ever seen.

[traviskicks]

I'd hate to tell the man how to run his company but...this is where I'd start:

Jobs bank programs -- 12,000 paid not to work

General Motors Corp. has roughly 5,000 workers in its jobs bank. According to those documents, GM agreed to contribute up to $2.1 billion over four years.

[John W]

GM Fact Sheet verbatim from the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/BLOGS01/360416267

[jalisco555]

These are all the right moves.

It does nothing to fix GM's core problem- incompetent management and a negligent Board.

[rawhide]

Retirees will lose health care at age 65, but pensions will get a bump to fund private health care

Would this be non-union employeees? I would think the union employees have this benefit spelled out in their contract and he cannot make any changes to that?

[pnh102]

Why Rick Wagoner is even still at the helm of GM is beyond me. The shareholders should have canned him years ago. Even with my own criticisms of GM, I still offer myself to continue running the company into the ground for a paltry $1 million a year.

[litehaus]

"i remember in the 1980s reading articles about gm’s bloated management and plush union deals."

I recall watching a report on TV bout a gal making $75.00 an hour (benfits etc cost to GM) whose job was driving the cars off the line to a parking lot...Not to mention those "waiting rooms" full of people being paid-- just in case they were needed for no-shows any given day.....