Posted on 05/10/2009 8:17:17 AM PDT by safetysign
General Motors is sparring with its main union over plans to shut US plants and outsource production to Mexico and Asia as bankruptcy looms over the troubled automaker, union sources said.
Negotiations were also complicated by a long-standing feud between GM and the United Auto Workers as they raced to fashion a new labor agreement ahead of the June 1 deadline imposed by President Barack Obama's automotive task force.
"This is really about the shape of GM in the US and its foot print in North America in the future," a senior UAW official who asked not to be identified told AFP.
Neither the UAW nor GM would comment on the status of negotiations which formally began last week, although two senior union officials went public with their criticism.
"The UAW strongly objects to GM's restructuring plan because it essentially means that GM will be shifting more of its manufacturing footprint from the US to Mexico, Korea, Japan and China," UAW legislative director Alan Reuther wrote in a letter to Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
You made your bed now sleep in it.
What, the Obamessiah has not brought total Kumbaya to the situation?
“Ron, tell the Union not to agree to any GM proposal. Rham and I have your back. We'll push GM into bankruptcy, screw the creditors and give you majority ownership. Don't worry about what the bankruptcy law says on paper. You'll own the place in a month.”
So they actually think that we will buy there imported crap when we can buy nice Japanese brand cars and trucks built in the USA?
This will be fun to watch, but expensive.
The UAW apparently can’t read the handwriting that’s been on the wall for at least the last two decades.
Looks like Obama is creating new ‘jobs’, it’s just that they will be somewhere other than the U.S..
It won't make any difference.
No one in his [or her] right mind is going to purchase GM or Chrysler after this debacle.
Heck, everyone wants to purchase Toyota now, and yet Toyota just posted a massive loss.
It won't matter how much money 0bambi throws at GM & Chrysler - they're both dead already [even if they don't realize it yet].
Just bought our second Honda in six months. We’re now totally Hondafied with two beautiful new SUVs.
We needed to get in before (a) inflation and (b) UAW tariffs.
Hey, one less thing, right?
Any relation to: ? (from Wiki)
Walter Philip Reuther (September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American labor union leader, who made the United Automobile Workers a major force not only in the auto industry but also in the Democratic Party in the mid 20th century. He was a socialist in the early 1930s; he became a leading liberal and supporter of the New Deal coalition.
Amazing.....people aren’t buying the cars they make....and somehow we’re supposed to keep them in a $60, 000 a year job with our tax dollars.
GM didn't lose to Japan's car companies. GM drove their customers away, thowing rocks and cursing us the entire way. I got my first Toyota, and have never looked back. I get great realiability with my Toyotas, and have no intention of ever even considering a GM car in the future, and it truly doesn't matter what the price difference is. GM made it personal, so it is with no small amount of glee that I watch them sink into obliviion. Yes, I will dance on their grave ... and then drive my Toyota away to continue my celebration elsewhere.
Thanks for that interesting post, and I agree enthusiastically with your concluding paragraph.
To be fair to GM and the truth, they were fighting an uphill battle against the UAW and the Federal Government which backed them every step of the way. The reason for this is obvious: the UAW controlled a heck of a lot more voters than did GM’s management.
The union/voter/government dynamic is one that leads inexorably to the off-shoring of relatively high-paid jobs that might have been available for persons with meager educational qualifications.
The ever-increasing power of knowledge, and of those who have it, leads to an ever shrinking number of choices for those who don’t. The union equation, which started long before Walter Reuther, just hastens the progress of that dynamic.
I bought a new Oldsmobile diesel station wagon. It ran for 27 miles and then stopped on a parkway. At 26,000 miles the injection pump again failed. I junked it at around 85,000 miles after it caught on fire. I bought a used 80 Pontiac diesel (thinking they had improved it). I lasted about 50,000 miles. I sold it for about $700 and they towed it away ( a connecting rod bearing went out).
I then bought a Honda civic which ran for 358,000 miles before the head warped. Someone bought it out of the junk yard and ran it for two years before abandoning it in Nevada. Since then I have driven Honda products.
You may draw your own conclusions.
0be wants to make sure your tires are at the proper inflation.
......UAW legislative director Alan Reuther wrote in a letter to Congress......
Hmmmm.... is there a whiff of nepotism in that statement?
Was not Walter Reuther the boss of th UAW that made the mess his son is now diddling in. Can a UAW boss get there by never having made an auto?
Did Alan Reuther and Harold Ickes grow up with union made silver spoons in their mouths?
Are they not American enemies.
Is not hte Democrat party a crimina enterprise.
Are not Reuther and Ickes criminals?
I wonder what would happen if GM management followed the example of FRancisco d’Anconia and his Mexican copper mines?
the politicans and uaw can share alot of the blame for the demise but the attitude towards american cars is the main reason. there are lots of americans that simply wouldnt buy a ford gm or chrysler no matter what.
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