GM slashing 30,000 jobs, closing plants

GM slashing 30,000 jobs, closing plants

Five U.S. assembly plants to be shut down in cost-cutting move


Updated: 1:43 p.m. ET Nov. 21, 2005

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand and position the world’s biggest automaker to start making money again after absorbing nearly $4 billion in losses so far this year.

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I am not sure why SOME of you find such glee in bad news for GM? Does it make you feel better seeing hard-working folks trading $65/hour jobs for $9/hr jobs at convenience stores and Wal-Mart? Again I am not indicting all of you, but there are a couple of you that just don't get it.

Malorn:

Actualy, most of us appear to "get it," thanks.

We "get it" that a large auto manufacturer bet the farm on high-margin gas guzzling pickup trucks and SUV's, the market tanked on those products, and GM as a result lost the entire wad.

So what do you want us to do? Trade in our Prius cars for a Chevy Silvorado or Suburban? Maybe send "voluntary" donations to GM?

Maybe the record high oil profits from the oil companies can be redistributed to GM to keep those plants open. Or maybe the Fed can assume hundreds of billions of dollars in additional debt to subsidize gasoline, maybe down to the price of $0.99, to ensure folks keep buying those gas guzzling pickups and SUV's.

Still not sure if you're a disenfranchised 17 year old living in his parents basement, or a Chevy dealer like you claim, but your reaction to all of this is getting old.

jay

GM blew it on the hybrid, I agree. There are several other factors playing into GM's problems besides Hybrids. Do you really think that if GM had been the manufacturer of EVERY hybrid it would have made any difference in today's news. Of the 17-18 million new vehicles sold in 2005, how many were hybrids? Maybe it is easier for you to discount uncomfortable points if I am a 17 year old kid.

We have nothing but sympathy for the hard workers in both the United States and Canada who are about to have their lives turned upside down...

but we have nothing but contempt for the company and their management that has clearly dropped the ball... this is one more reason to despise them...

It's not hybrids alone... it's a matter of diversifying their product line.

Both GM and Ford have positioned themselves very top heavy... focused on SUVs and trucks... that is among many of the reasons why they are in the position they are in now.

No one thing is the reason why GM is struggling... but a million of small things. Like chinese papercut torture.

Here Malorn, maybe you can communicate with these guys

Yes, like the following:

1. INCOMPETENT CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

2. Bet the wad on high-margin pickups and SUV's

3. Ponzi Schemes with pension, health, benefit plans for the hard-working assembly line folks, who will now get SHAFTED by The General.

Of course, we should blame all 3 points above on a sinister global conspiracy that Toyota has mounted against General Motors.

BTW: Toyota dealers here in Winnipeg are crying they're having a hard time unloading their pickups and large SUV's as well. Do you think I could care less that Toyota is having a hard time unloading their gas guzzlers?

$65 per hour pay for an assembly line job is as obscene as the $9 per hour pay at Wal-Mart, albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Maggiedd, you are obviously a very creative and thoughtful PC poster today!

$65!!! an hour!! Are you serious? That explains a lot - No wonder they are in trouble. I thought assembly workers were always paid little, which is why they had unions. That's $130k a year. That right there is $3.9 Billion!. I think you're number's can't be right. I'm sure designers and such could make that, but surely not factory workers.

The $65/hour includes all benefits.

Well, I think that's a big part of the problem as well. Benefits are important, but there is also a limit to what they should be. My knowledge on pensions is very limited, but it seems to me that they're a terrible idea. My wife's father used to work for sears. Sears had all these "lifetime" benefits and he planned on having them for his lifetime. Sears now realizes that they can't afford to keep going with all of them at the initial limits they set, so they've cut back.

People should take retirement planning 100% into their own hands. 401K's, savings, personal investments..etc are all far better than relying on a company to take care of you during retirment. It's also quite arrogant (I think that's an appropriate word) for a company to think they'll be there 50 years down the road to pay for this.

I also think Unions need to go - I don't think they offer the benefits they once did. People need to protect themselves. If you aren't happy in your job, get a new one.

The only decent health benefits I've ever had came through my union. In my line of business, I worked for short periods of time for a number of employers. Only my union benefits and "bank of hours" got me through the dry spells and ensured consistency of coverage.

The worst thing to happen to the working man since the Reagan years has been the steady erosion of influence of the unions. Lord knows they've been corrupt and have their negative side as well, but life is definitely better when you can Work Union. Otherwise it's back to the Industrial Revolution, child labor, 14-hour work days, unsafe working conditions, and still not making enough money to put food on the table.

Just "get another job?" Easier said than done, and not at all feasible when all of the options stink. Better to band together, negotiate as a collective, and make the job you've got BETTER rather than wandering off looking for some Utopia where management willingly graces you with a decent wage and benefits. IMHO, of course.

It's a sad, sad thing when a big employer like GM has to lay people off. The company is currently the victim of poor product planning by management, greed, the out of control cost of health insurance, burdensome pension plans, and lack of vision. While it wouldn't have completely turned the situation around for them, a little more "social responsibility" over the last decade would have held them in good stead right now.

Jan

There are plenty of jobs where health benefits are not part of the deal. My wife doesn't get any where she is right now, so she gets them through me. The goverment needs to do more here.

Laws protect many of the child labor, 14-hour work days and unsafe working conditions you mention.

And as far as "get another job" goes, the reason I state that is simple. I've seen way to many strikes for people wanting raises..etc..etc. I haven't had a raise in 4 years at least. I'm paid well, but still, no raise is no raise. And while I'd like one, times have been difficult and the company is finally getting to a more financially positive place. What bothers me most is when people go on strike, hurting their employers over raises, benefits..etc. There's plenty of other people out there without jobs - I think those working should be happy they are doing so. There may be some cases where unions help, but these days I think they cause more harm then good.

My union experience is pretty much nil, but I did once work at a supermarket that was non-union. The other local market was union. Choice of where to work for me was simple and I didn't see any reason why union would have been better. In fact, it would have been worse due to union dues.

Huh, funny...I couldn't find one ounce of glee in my original post. I saw an article on my homepage of MSN.com, and cut and pasted it and a link to the full article, with no further insight or comments from myself. What exactly was it that you took offense to, because I didn't doctor that article in any way, I posted it exactly as it was...

I hear you. I think, however, that much of the "glee" you're seeing around here is actually people patting themselves on the back because their hindsight was much better than GM executives' foresight.

Had the neocons been right about the easy victory they were going to win in Iraq and had the Gulf Coast not been hit with those nasty hurricanes, all the flag wavers would be as pleased as ever to putt around in 7,000-lb. pollution mobiles. Gas would cost about $1.75/gal., and we would be busy helping our puppet government in Iraq to ramp up production to slake our thirst for cheap oil.

I suspect he was responding not so much to your post as to the general tenor in previous threads about GM's recent troubles. All you did was to post a link to an article. I didn't detect any "glee" in it, either.

You get an "A" for wishful thinking. Human beings, however, are much more effective in getting what they want when they organize and cooperate. This applies to the protection of economic interests just as much as it does to any other human endeavor--from building pyramids to committing genocide to making minty toothpaste.... If you want to protect your trade interests, form (or join) a trade union. There is only impotence in isolation.

Ha! Setting aside the outrageously inflated $65 per hour figure as something out of someone's fantasy world (the true figure is little more than one-third of that amount), such compensation is nothing compared to the millions thrown around for compensation in the corporate executive offices. Inequality in the United States is truly obscene, but to get a true picture of the problem you will have to look a little higher than the middle rungs of the socioeconomic ladder.