GM -more layoffs

[healer677]

Interesting. Isn't GM losing money? Can someone refresh my memory -wasn't it not too long ago that GM workers went on strike or some sort of a job action? Then it was revealed, not just how much money they were paying in wages but how much benefits the current, and previous workers were recieving?

Looks like the unions are crying now -they negotiated themselves right out of business.
But now....they're blaming the goverment? WTF? How does that work? Buzz really needs to give his head a shake.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_22157.aspx

 

[papasmerf]

sales drop

production has to adjust.

 

[landscaper]

with the housing crunch in the states none of the trades are buying new trucks. The trucks are built here, no sales no work

 

[papasmerf]

with the housing crunch in the states none of the trades are buying new trucks. The trucks are built here, no sales no work

it goes beyond that with gas heading to 4 bucks a gallon the average home owner is getting away from trucks. Those in construction still need them and will keep buying them.........Filled my truck yesterday at 101 dollars and my car this past Saturday at 89 dollars. That is what is slowing down the sales.

 

[landscaper]

yes to a fair extent gas prices are an issue. But at the same time if you have the work and the need for a truck you will buy one, possible a smaller truck but you will buy.

My truck has two tanks only putting gas in one at a time

 

[21pro]

yep, and unions are businesses too, so they have their own interests at stake.

i have to fight unions trying to get into my biz as well. i can say that a painter at my facility makes more per hour and has better benefits/retirement package than any doing the same industrial work at any of the big 3 us automakers.

times are tough for the sector, but it's a north american thing. in India, Russia and China, my sales are booming. though, none of my Canadian skilled workers want to go over there and paint cars for 20% of the wage they make here, of course.

 

[S.C. Joe]

Stop blaming unions for everything bad

 

[papasmerf]

Stop blaming unions for everything bad

Unions are a necessary evil and have brought many changes to the work force.......The 40 hours work week, retirement bennies, healthcare and a safer work environment..........

 

[buckwheat1]

it has to do with a few factors that are reported in todays Toronto Star
(www.thestar.com) fuel prices, and the Canadian dollar, therefore people aren't buying gas eating vehicles, therefore it's a supply and demand thing.

 

[papasmerf]

it has to do with a few factors that are reported in todays Toronto Star
(www.thestar.com) fuel prices, and the Canadian dollar, therefore people aren't buying gas eating vehicles, therefore it's a supply and demand thing.

GM, Ford and Chrysler will have to begin retooling one plant each to make a high milage, low cost shit box to fill the needs of North Americans. As China enters the market a $9,000.00 shit box that get high milage and will run for 250,000 miles is a must.

 

[buckwheat1]

they can but it'll have a lawn mower engine in it!!!! 30km maximum.

 

[elmo]

The concept of Unions was fantastic when they came on the scene - at that time, workers were being taken advantage of, no question. Today...they have outlived their usefulness, causing the Canadian manufacturing business to become uncompetative with the rest of the world...careful what you wish for.

The part of the article I loved is Buzz and the boys blaming the government for their problems...wake up CAW, you made your bed. When you have unskilled labour making the money and benefits some of these line workers make...no wonder we are not competative.

 

[train]

While the economic slowdown is not the fault of the unions being unionized makes it very difficult for companies to adjust.

Instead of jobs being retained on merit and productivity those who keep their jobs are those that have been sleeping on it the longest. So productivity becomes even worse at a time when you need it to improve.

Moving people from an area that is slowing down to another area that is busy becomes a logistic nightmare due to Union bumping rules etc.

In short survival is often threatened because of the inflexibility of the environment.

 

[landscaper]

Unions did and do overstep what I would think are the boundaries at times. A friend of mine has a manufacturing plant in Mississauga he's a multinational with a union in the Miss shop. Everything was going well for years until the union business manager changed. The new guy started off negotiations by saying that the existing contract was an embarasment and that the new one would show managment what a contract should be.

The negotiations started and the union guy wants a say in how the business is run. My friend says fine oh by the way line your members up and have them put their houses on line to guarentee the business loans just like him.

Hunion guy imediatly has a litter of kittens, followed by a giraffe and then a wart hog. To noones surprise the piquet lines were up the next day.

So my friend has take out delivered to the line all week for lunch coffe pots all day .

The union has him charged with unfare bargaining.

Two months go by the lines stay up lunches stop with an annopuncment of who was responsible.

The union has him charged with unfare bargaining.

Strike ends after three months of the work being done in Puerto Rico, union business manager has his car trashed by the brothers, the new contract is fair to all involved.

The other side of the coin

Business have for the last 20 years made money off a 60cent dollar. During that period some R&D into how to improve manufacturing so that when the dollar rose up they could still compete. The fact that none of them to my knowledge did says wonders about the abilities of the business analyists who work for them.

The government also must carry some blame on this one as previous governments worked to keep the dollar low. A low dollar is a good dollar was the mantra . Any idiot who could not see this coming gets what they deserve.

Here endeth the rant

 

[LancsLad]

I'm a capitalist and a major free marketer so I hate how the big auto makers supported 100% by their parasite unions get hundreds of millions of tax dollars in support each year for amazing new ventures that either "create" or "sustain" an overpaid auto sector job, just to find that when the grants run low so does the job roster. Seems to cost at least $75K per year of support payments to keep each of these boys employed.

I can think of a lot better use of my money, where I get to decide where it is spent.



.

 

[gabeti]

And now, these clowns accuse government that poured hundreds of millions of our tax money to bring and keep their business here.

Buzz needs to go.

 

[hunter001]

Stop blaming unions for everything bad

Why the f*** are the unions blaming the government for the problems at G.M.? G.M.'s failing business lays squarely on the shoulders on the company management and not imagined sales in foreign countries that would likely want their product anyway.

 

[dragondick]

The Union is partly to blame for GM, in fact all Big 3's woes.

The basic problem is that all Big 3s produced shitty cars for a long time.

As a result, they lost the compact & sub-compact markets to the the Japanese cars, then the large/high end sedans. the passenger van & SUV markets come under attack from all imports, now even the once secure truck market is no longer safe.

Compounded by high oil prices & collapse of the home building market, get someone to write a good obituary for the Big 3, & fast.

 

[Meister]

GM, Ford and Chrysler will have to begin retooling one plant each to make a high milage, low cost shit box to fill the needs of North Americans. As China enters the market a $9,000.00 shit box that get high milage and will run for 250,000 miles is a must.

Shit boxes will not take over the market (quite yet). Automobiles are image things and we are very much judged on what we drive. So, the Chinese car will cater to the no money or don't give a shit crowd, maybe 10%.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Interesting. Isn't GM losing money? Can someone refresh my memory -wasn't it not too long ago that GM workers went on strike or some sort of a job action? Then it was revealed, not just how much money they were paying in wages but how much benefits the current, and previous workers were recieving.

I have very little sympathy for GM.

If you, as an employer, negotiate and agree that you will contribute X amount of dollars to provide Y level of pension, and then don't contribute the amount of money you said you were going to contribute, whose fault is it that your Y level of pension is FAR more than you can now afford? IT'S YOUR FAULT!!!

GM didn't fund their pension and benefits plan. And they didn't fund it properly in good economic times, not just the bad.

They made their bed. If I was the union, I wouldn't be too sympathetic either. GM agreed to it and then didn't live up to their agreement. If they didn't want to agree, they should have taken a strike/lockout. But they did agree to it and I think they should have to live up to their obligations.

In order to get those benefits/pension, the union had to give something up. Now GM is telling them, "Oh sorry, times are tough. You gave up something for nothing." Yeah, right.

If you believe in the power of a handshake, then you shouldn't be supportive of GM's position.