GM to cut 30,000 Jobs & Close several NA Plants

Hey D*****ad, did you ever work anywhere except Micky 'D's? What you are saying is that blue collar workers are 2nd class citizens. WRONG!

A Chevelle? Now theres a car! Love those things, just wish I could afford one ;-) Anyhow, though I would not have been one of the people out there destroying the Lada (or whichever competitor's car) I would be bitching out the owner of it. If you work for GM, you can damn well buy GM, cause IMHO, if you don't like there cars that much, then you shouldn't be working for them in the first place.

Jane, it's refreshing to see that someone like yourself would be willing to make concessions that would help others, but concessions which offer no direct benefit to you. That's "Big-Picture" thinking and I applaud you.

Dalton does not impress! He speaks out of both sides of his mouth. His knee-jerk reactions are usually on the wrong side of major issues, but then his cronies set him on the right track. I've met O'Toole several times and I think if his constituents push him, he'll speak up for the community. But he really hasn't done a great job so far, in my humble opinion.

The employee vehicle issue has always been a sore point with me. I think that any non-GM vehicle should be parked at the Oshawa Centre and the employee could walk or catch the bus from there! *lol* I work for a major Canadian corporation which provides company vehicles to senior executives and we are advised that if we want a company vehicle, our vehicle must be manufactured by GM, Ford or Chrysler. And I wholeheartedly support that policy. I just happen to have been partial to GM all my life.

My thoughts and best wishes are with all GM employees at this time.

Amen to that.

The OT thing would actually be a detriment to me, as I hate overtime! I always said I would never vote for mandatory again...the again, during the first go-round I had an infant at home. It would be easier now that he's a teenager!

I'm not all altruism, though. The pension I hope to collect in 6 years needs a workforce to fund it...

Exactly what I believe happened this time.

I've met O'Toole several times and I

No, he hasn't really.

Thank you.

That explains a lot. ;)

Poeple can spin it anyway they chose but the fact reamins Toyotas average pay and benefits package is only around 2/3 of what Toyota pays their union workers in the GM/Toyota plant in California.

mike

Your are entitled to you own opinion but it is after all that of a minority. The fact is more buyers prefer the vehicles from GM Ford and Chrysler than prefer either Toyotas or Hondas. Number one GM, sell three times as many vehicles as number four or five Toyota or Honda. Number two Ford, sells more than twice as many vehicles as Toyota or Honda Chrysler sell half again as many as Toyota. With all of the high quality, well built vehicles, offered by GM, Ford and Chrysler today a prudent buyer is not going to spend

mike hunt

A good thought, but I notice even union people are buying Toyotas and Hondas.

More than that, GM, Ford, Chrysler, VW, etc. are building up Chinese car manufacturing capability to ship cars to the USA. GM is already importing cars from Korea.

Pay for work done I agree, but high pay for sitting home is killing a shrinking GM.

LMAO! Common sense at its best! Best of Luck to all of you. I'll also be in your corner, for what that's worth. I'd be lost without my GM vehicles.

Toyota is building a plant in China to make cars and trucks for the US market, as well according to Automotive News

mike

I told you the American consumers were greedy. ;)

mike hunt

Not greedy IMO - just looking for value for their buck. I live pretty close to a huge GM facility. Yes, there are a lot of Japanese cars in their parking lots. I suppose, I've seemed negative on GM cars. This is really not the situation. In fact I have owned 6 Olds. and have was quite pleased with all of em - still have 1. I have a new Audi and it has already been in to the dealer for repair more than any of the Olds. My complaint is that I feel the union power has put GM in a situation of likely bankrupsy - sad IMO. The union benefits adds a bunch to the cost of each GM car, and thus GM must sell em at a loss due to competition and hope for a profit on financing the dude.

GM is not losing money on any vehicles they sell, they are just not making as much. Many would like people to believe that GM sales are down when in fact they are selling more vehicles than ever before in the expanding US market In 1987 the total market hit 9,000, 000. In 2003 it hit 19,000,000 The unions leaders are not stupid. They have already agreed to cuts and will eventually take whatever more cut are need to save GM. They will likely loan GM money from their pension fund as they did to save Chrysler in the past. Blaming the unions is a stretch in any event. Toyota and Honda do not offer as good a wage and benefits package to their workers as does GM, Ford and Chrysler yet their vehicles sell for 20% to 30% more, how come?

mike

I really don't know the answer to your question. I expect it's a concept of value and quality. Ratings on quality are always very high for Honda and Toyota. From personal experience, I know that resale is very poor for domestics versus the imports. This normally is not a huge issue with me since I usually drive em for huge miles and several years. My wife did total a fairly new Olds Achieva, and I got a fraction of what I thought it s/b worth. Similar thing happened when I traded in a recent model Olds Intrigue in on the new Audi - got a fraction of what I considered it s/b worth. All this said, IMO the cost per mile is much less for the domestics if one buys new and drives until it drops.

Last time I checked, Toyota is #2 and quickly closing.

You have blinded eyes and are looking just inside your little world. Many GM cars are very behind Toyota, Honda and others on design. Toyota will soon be the largest car manufacturer in the world, the customers obviously like Toyota's, Honda's, etc. designs and quality, because as you state they generally cost more, but the difference is much less than you suggest and is decreasing. Recently the big 3 have seen dropping sales, while Toyota, Honda, etc. have had steady sales increases. The customers are talking with their dollars.

For example one thing I definitely need in my cars is a full size matching spare. GM's recent designs (even of their smaller SUVs) don't have a wheel well capable of holding a full size spare, while most Toyotas actually include a matching full size spare.

GM has been trying to catch up in design in the last few years, but their cost structure is killing them. The income from GMAC and retained cash has been keeping GM above water. Those days are quickly ending.

Where do I stand on my car purchases? In the 50s I switched to imports being very unhappy with the 50s cars; back to big 3 cars in the 60s; back to imports in the 70s; have bought big 3 cars since 1979. Unfortunately I don't see a current big 3 car product that meets my requirements.

However most Toyotas, Hondas, etc. are no longer imports to NAFTA, so my choice of a non import is much larger than previously!