Posted on 10/16/2012 3:49:17 AM PDT by AbolishCSEU
The upstate economy took another significant blow today as General Motors announced it will close its fuel cell plant in Honeoye Falls, just south of Rochester.
The decision means the 220 salaried employees who worked in the research and development facility won’t be employed in the area. The company said most of the employees will be offered the opportunity to transfer to the Global Powertrain Engineering Headquarters in Pontiac, Mich., the Democrat and Chronicle reports.
“This decision has significant business advantages for the company,”said Kim Carpenter, GM spokeswoman.
“For example, it will enable GM to capitalize on synergies with the rest of the powertrain and vehicle organizations. The majority of the GM employees will be offered the option to relocate in Michigan.”
(Excerpt) Read more at polhudson.lohudblogs.com ...
oh my!!! PEACE??
250-500 Layoffs can be a big deal in a place like Upstate New York, which already has chronically high unemployment and low growth. Add to that the associated suppliers and businesses that serve the workers, and the effect multiplies.
On the other side of the coin, the Government has gone Billions of Dollars further in debt to produce an unproductive project. Most of this money might as well have been flushed down a sewer. And, as they say, a Billion here and a Billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking about real money!
“250-500 Layoffs can be a big deal in a place like Upstate New York,...”
You are SO right.
Any single layoff of 250-500 employees must be considered in light of prior layoffs and declines at Xerox, Kodak and IBM in the Rochester area. Those are the tech companies that the nation looks to for innovation and growth. However, the growth and innovation have taken place elsewhere since 1946. In places around Cambridge MA, Palo Alto CA, and other gardens of technology company. The jobs lost in Rochester are the jobs of highly educated engineers and technicians who support mid-price home purchases, want their children to become well-educated, and are often the source of spin-off businesses. The loss of these jobs hurts the region’s economy and future as much or more than the loss of any other kinds of jobs.
New York state lives on the finance industry and treats the citizens of the state as if everyone worked at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan. As an exercise in extreme contrasts, drive from the New York side of Niagara Falls to the Canadian side—see which side has a lively economy and life. Downtown Rochester, like Buffalo and other regional cities, are like museums of pre-WW2 American industry.
Honda has working prototypes.
They now are working on making fuel cells, goof proof to refuel, cheap, and reliable.
There is no point to GM to continue since Honda is already so far ahead in fuel cells.
Exactly! losing 250 well paying jobs in smaller communities hurts the community where it happens.
The Chicago Thugs in charge of the Outhouse have told the defense companies not to lay off people until after the election.
Banks here in California with large loans on McMansions from San Diego up to the Mendicino coast have been warned not to foreclose on those loans until after the elections.
Makes one wonder what type of pressure the thugs in the Outhouse are putting on businesses across the nation not to lay off people nor foreclose on big unpaid/in default loans until after the election to keep the unemployment rate down.
True - plus they're infested with rats, mostly big 'Rats!
You’re correct about the layoffs having an impact here.
I’m from Western New York and our economy has been fragile in the Rochester area ever since Kodak declared bankruptcy.
While 500 jobs may seem slim to a major city like New York or Chicago or LA, it has a huge impact here in the Rochester area.
Twentieth Century Motors abandons the engine of the future??
hhmmm
Those upstate NY workers will be thrilled with the offer to move to Detoilet.”””
Exacrly!!!
A chance to move from beautiful upstate New York to a hellhole of a city- Detroit area—and listen to the 80 +++ mosques send out the call to prayers 4 times a day!!!
What an opportunity!!!!
You're kidding, right? With the exception of IBM (and only on the high end), those companies are dinosaurs. And there I thought the nation looked to Apple, Google, and Intel for innovation. Silly me.
Elections have consequences.
“So... was this decision based on the realization that hydrogen fuel-cell batteries can never generate power, but only store it?”
I think you have the concept backwards. The point of fuel cells *is* to generate power directly from gaseous fuels, rather than store power like a lead or lithium battery. The problem is practicality and cost. Hydrogen is an ideally clean fuel, whose only catalytic byproduct is water. But, hydrogen gas would be impractical, dangerous and expensive as automobile fuel. Efforts to use hydrocarbon gaseous fuels have apparently not been as successful as hoped. I think contamination of the cells by those fuels is the problem, cutting their lifespan too short to be marketable.
770 layoffs is a big deal in Upstate NY.
We need to stop dragging feet and start fracking natural gas in Upstate NY!
And carjackings, drive-by shootings, assaults, robberies, sky high taxes, and failing schools.
BINGO!
Excellent reporting on your part.
What a shock that must be to the residents of Oakland County. It’s one of the wealthier counties in the United States.
They aren’t eliminating the jobs, just sending them back to the mother ship. Which makes a lot of sense. The only reason they were in NYS in the first place was politics.
Thank you; How I’d LOVE to move out of this god-forsaken BLUE state!!
Good luck on that one! I see all the “no frack” signs put out by the GREENIES and the People’s Republic of Ithaca.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.