GM cuts exec and salaried pay/benefits

Wow, it almost makes me want to go buy a GM vehicle as a show of support. Almost.

 

This makes me proud to drive my Chevrolet!

 

I'm a proud Saturn owner. Well, it's actually my wife's car. I dont' care what they do within. If they make a decent car for a decent prce, I'll buy it. Don't care if it's GM or Hyundai.

 

According to today's Wall Street Journal, "GM-UAW Negotiations Stall Over Restructuring at Delphi", Pg A10, "Delphi, which is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is scheduled to ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Feb 127 to void its union contracts" in the face of union resistance to granting further wage and benefit concessions. "The UAW has warned that if Delphi seeks to cancel its contracts, the union could respond with strikes that could potentially cripple GM's North American production in the middle of several new model launches. Other Automakers Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. also receive parts from Delphi."

Issues cited included pay concessions, transfer to plants outside a 50-mile radius, and early retirement-buyouts. Among other things, "The UAW wants GM to subsidize wages and benefits for 23,000 UAW-Delphi workers." GM, on the other hand, wants to eliminate 30,000 UAW jobs over 5 years, and Ford has proposed 30,000 job cuts.

I strongly urge members of the UAW to carefully consider the ramifications of a strike. It will further destroy GM and Ford, pushing either or both into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and could result in the liquidation of Delphi. The UAW would emerge a hollow "victor", because there will be no jobs left to go back to. It is a murder-suicide pact.

As I have said earlier, the union needs to emulate those of Europe, which finally recognized that huge concessions were needed to save both the companies they worked for, and their jobs. Otherwise, neither will be left.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have owned shares of both GM and Ford in the past, but own neither at this time.

 

I heard an Auto Worker state today on Rush (Hedgecock fill in) that a friend of his has been collecting full wages, for over 12 years, for doing nothing except going to his mailbox. His plant shut down 12 years ago. And there were thousands more just like him.

I've owned all 3 before too, in fact I think I still have a little bit of Ford stock yet.

 

Here's Hillary's Solution:

Sen. Clinton backs auto industry aid

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, an early favorite among some Democrats for the 2008 presidential nomination, told the United Auto Workers on Wednesday that she backing their efforts to launch a so-called Marshall Plan for the U.S. auto industry.

Clinton's speech capped four days of rallying by the UAW aimed at making the health of the U.S. auto industry a key issue in the 2006 midterm elections. With the bankruptcy at Delphi Corp. and 60,000 planned job cuts from General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. on the way, the union's leaders and supporters urged the 1,600 delegates to push the union's agenda on health care, trade and other issues.

"What Delphi is about is a signal to working people in this country that their days in the middle class are over unless they stand up and fight like they've never fought before," said Vermont independent Rep. Bernie Sanders.

Under the proposal the UAW has been touting to lawmakers this week, automakers that invest in fuel-efficient technologies, such as hybrid vehicles, could get federal aid to support retiree health benefits. The name comes from the aid program the United States launched to help European nations rebuild after World War II. It was named for then Secretary of State George C. Marshall.

More free-market distortion.

 

Why not go all the way, and have the U.S government own and run GM outright? Would make up plenty of sales for government vehicles!