It is impossible to run a company efficiently when the people who work for you are ready to make you crash and burn at the slightest provocation.

So many UAW members refer to GM as "the enemy". That's hard for me to comprehend.

Never bite the hand that feeds you. I hope the domestics take drastic action and move even more factories abroad. There's no way they can survive if they're to continue forward with the UAW ball and chain around their feet.

 

Its a very unfortunate situation and one the Japanese for the most part have avoided.

A strike is not going to solve anything.

I also agree, our ENTIRE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM needs revamping, not just GM.

 

Having grown up in England with much of the same mentality (although largely done now), yes I would.

 

Easy to say, very hard to do. A government run or 'managed' healthcare system will cost many times more than the situation today.

Millions of the so-called 'uninsured' today have CHOSEN not to pay for healthcare and take their chances. Would they want it if it were free? Sure. I'd like a Ferrari if it were free too. But there ain't no such thing as free. And if those who actually pay TAXES (people and companies) get SOAKED to pay for something like Hillary's plan (which she's touting as costing 'only' $110Billion a year which you know will be low), then watch out unemployment skyrocketing, along with all the other problems.

In European countries they've made a 'calculation' - a trade off, that they'll provide much higher benefits than in the U.S. with the result being much higher unemployment and of course much lower incentive to work hard, and an almost crippling burden for anyone even thinking about starting a new company.

Canada sort of gets away with it because of the EASY money its economy can create from fuel, wood, and other raw materials combined with a very small population. But even there, look at the taxes... mortgage interest deduction? Nope. Sales tax? 15-20%. And on and on.

 

Probably the most powerful reason so many manufacturers are abandoning the "Rust Belt" states for the New South is the fact that union membership is not required by state law in these so-called "right to work" states in which a person cannot be denied a job based on union membership.

This dramatically cuts overhead and payroll costs without sacrificing good employees. In a typical "open shop" compensation is based on performance and ultimately the employee's direct benefit to the organization. If the employee wants a higher wage, he is free to seek other, better-paying employment. He does not organize a revolt of the work force to extort higher wages or benefits.

This allows businesses to forecast their overhead costs, make reasonable bids for work, and maintain budgets for committed work. Most large manufacturing companies operate on a 4-5% margin, after taxes. An 8-% wage hike with additional benefits suddenly would bankrupt a profitable company. It's time that employees were allowed to compete for jobs in the marketplace, rather than be "guaranteed" jobs by a union. It's hard to guarantee a job when the mill goes bankrupt and closes down.

 

Unions were needed just after the turn of the century to protect the workers from the robber-barons of the day. But with the huge government involvement with worker's rights and safety that we have today the unions have become their own worst enemy. "Hey, our company's in financial trouble! Let's demand job security and strike if we don't get it." Yeah, that'll help. They cut off their nose to spite their face and are largely responsible (with incompetent company management) for the dire straits the auto industry is in today.

There is no way the big three can remain competitive with the unions on their backs. The financial burden for past contracts is coming due and the money just isn't there.

You think this is bad? Wait until social security runs out of money and you'll see this financial crisis times 10,000.

 

Social Security is NEVER going to run out of money.

Social Security taxes people that work. All DATA points to (in the future) there being more people working that currently working. (ie, the population is growing not shrinking)

THIS is not even up to a debate but people are always crying wolf about Social Security running out of money.

Social Security may have to cut benifits or rais taxes but it is not running out of money.

No one reading this will be alive in 2081 so what's the big deal about?

Don't worry about Social Security, it's Medicare you need to worry about.

 

I'm just glad Bush isn't going to pull a Ronald Regan and subsidize the industry like he did for Harley Davidson, if you are getting your butt kicked in the market because someone is better and cheaper too bad, don't go crying to the government for a bail out, just like these people who had no business buying an overpriced home expect me to feel sorry for them while I diligently rent and save, everyone wants a bail out for bad decisions, too bad. Take your medicine.

 

You guys have been given a seat at History right here.
Right before your eyes you are seeing the beginning of the end for a Major US automaker.

Sad indeed.


Go ask Obama about that and how he wants to tax the "rich" people that make over 94K 12.5% more to subsidize SS. Since you think its not running out of money.

Let me go and tell my wife that we are "RICH" folks since we hit that threshold. I'll try and stop her from laughing too hard.


The funniest part would be if GM just shut down over the next 10 years and moved 100% of its operations to Latin America.

 

They are not going anywhere.

I believe GM wanted this. I called this way back when the Delphi heads rolled, that at the contract renewal it was time to take a stand.

GM is sitting on 100 days of cars. They can SAFELY sit for 45 days SELLING cars and bringing in revenue without having to pay 75,000+ wages! They can if they chose to, deplete inventory within a reasonable margin and bank a ton over the next 45 days!

GM gave this sign as Gettelfinger said himself as it seemed they didn’t care if they strike or not.

I think it will either be done late tonight or it will drag our for weeks to a month or even better. GM can settle this anytime they want to, but their not going to without some major concessions.

 

my point is, SS and the UAW are not the same.

GM needs to take a portion of a shrinking market to pay benifits. Social Security (taxes) are going up with no end in sight.

The US censius figures:

The US population has been growing 1 to 2 percent per year, while the UAW is down 70% in the last 12 years. One going up (US population and SS tax) one going down (UAW workers and GMs market share).

In 1917 the US had a population of ~100M today we have ~300M in the next 90 years we probably will be up to (?) 600M (?) I don't know but there will be a lot of people paying tax (far more than there are now). I know the growing older population but there will still be far more people working than retired.

 

Yep.....and it looked like GM was just now, finally, getting OUT of the El Cheapo buisness with the new Cadillac CTS (see my review).

 

via autoblog

 

via autoblog

 

Two things here strike me (no pun intended) as absurd. First, instead of a walkout, why not just extend the terms of the old contract until a new one can be worked out? Second, why would the UAW walk out when there are thousands of people currently unemployed waiting to take their places in those jobs....union or no union? The UAW may find that, by walking out, they have walked out of their jobs, period.....not just the end of a contract. Maybe, though, the complexity and skill level required of a modern auto-assembly job, and the training required for it, precludes just anybody walking in off the street and taking their place. You don't get Lexus-quality paint jobs, for instance, from somebody who has never picked up a paint gun or sprayed primer.