[pnh102]

I really have no sympathy for GM’s management. They chose to give away the store to the unions. Had the company bitten the bullet and fought off the union tooth and nail, the same way Toyota, Honda and other profitable companies do every day, it would not be in the position in which it currently finds itself.

[joe fonebone]

GM Management points to the Engineers, and says they will not design cars people want to buy....

The Engineers point to the Union, and say they refuse to work hard enough to build the cars they design....

The Union points to Management, and says they get paid too much, while the Union gets paid too little....

Management points to the Engineers.........

[Alberta's Child]

It really isn't management's fault at all.

GM's operating arrangements and business structure developed over the course of several decades because it was put in place by a three-part group that all benefitted in one way or another: the UAW got lucrative contracts, management got well-paid positions with little responsibility to deliver profits, and elected officials got the votes of all parties in exchange for government contracts to produce fleets of mediocre civilian vehicles and more military vehicles than the Pentagon could even use.

General Motors has been a government-run industry for years. Today's bankruptcy and pending reorganization just make it official.