LS1Sweetheart

This is an obvious thing but thought I would post it as CNN just did a breaking news report a few minutes ago....

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/07/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

HemiDakota

Hope that it will be a meaner and leaner GMC from a global perspective

zamboxl

iTrader: (1)

amen!!! to bad a buch of hard working people are gettign screwed though.

Spazdout

25,000 people gone

technical

>an independent research group, estimating that more than 25,000 of the company's U.S. workers are near retirement age.<

Good grief..

I hope that equates to a small percentage of total employees.

BBQLS1

GM is trying to absorb an over 1 billion 1st quarter loss. The UAW won't renegotiate healthcare costs with GM. So GM had to find other ways to cut costs. It sucks, but GM is a giant resource wasting machine. Part of that is due to the UAW.

Shinkaze

ugh....

GoldenVelvet

technical

Two problems I see are GM's shitty sales (need new product) and some of the crazy labor contracts they have...

>>GM's UAW contract essentially forces it to pay union employees during the life of the contract even if hourly workers are laid off and their plants are closed.<<

It's great that the UAW has been able to get this level of protection for it's members, but it doesn't seem fair to the business anymore. Who's looking out for GM? And to think people get annoyed when plants open up in Mexico.

Third Gear

iTrader: (3)

Who is going to pay the union employees when there is no more GM? Go ahead union, be the retards that you are and see where it leads you.

ss rally red

iTrader: (8)

If GM thought along the lines of the other 99 percent of businesses run in this country they wouldn't be in this situation,who do they think they are the US Government/US Postal Service?

CamaroCain

iTrader: (1)

First they kill the f-body and close down that plant, now this.

HPP

The post office offers a hell of a service for next to nothing. And in turn, they are squeezed by the feds every year to the tune of billions. They have forcefully been turned into a money making machine for the feds, because they can manage themselves and run efficiently. If you really think that 37 cents is too much to mail a letter to the furthest outpost of Alaska from the tip of Florida, then bitch to congress. It's their fault, not the USPS.

BBQLS1

This may get GM out of having to build a new Camaro in Canada.

Shinkaze

Adam's prediction....
GM declares Bankruptcy in the next 12 months, clears it's Debt and Health care liability to retirees, uses Chapter 11 to kill the UAW contract and starts over with a clean slate in 24 to 36 months with decent product in 48 to 60 months.

Shinkaze

Ps a GM Bankruptcy would kill that contract... at least something good would come from killing the health care plan of millions of GM employees,

ss rally red

iTrader: (8)

Ok thats why I have seen so many posts on this board about lost parts,no tracking #'s provided unless you pay extra etc from USPS. Hell my mother had to go to the postmaster general in Birmingham Al. about her local mail service after 2 years of multiple pieces of mail not reaching her house...seems the local carrier had a beef and was just discarding delivering some mail to blocks of his postal customers..... Now for me I have had a great relationship with a lot of my local carriers both residential/businsess, but in an organization this large where individual performance is not always rewarded with advancement related to performance.....staus quo is what you get.

DietCoke

iTrader: (18)

GM has three problems:

1: No clear future target objective

2: No innovative new products (how old is the burban/taho line again?)

3: TOO MANY brand names. They have to sacrifice so much to promote the SAME product under entirely too many brand names.

LS1Sweetheart

On the same page I posted above they have a poll.

So far,

8% believe that more job cuts will best help revive troubled GM
63% believe better cars
22% believe new management
8% believe a merger

What do you guys think would help GM according to the choice above?

BBQLS1

I disagree. I don't think there are too many brand names. Mostly now it is a marketing thing. For instance, GM sells more trucks than anyone, but Ford claims that title, why? Because there are two brands selling the same truck. They do this so they can sell a truck to someone who refuses to buy Chevy through GMC. You and I don't get why, but it works. I think they should differentiate the product lines more.

I do agree with 1 and 2 whole heartedly. They have no leadership nor direction and nothing really new product wise. The trucks are getting long in the tooth.

They also have a serious problem with the UAW. I think the UAW is strangling the American Auto Industry. I work a bit in the industry, though I have never worked in an American Plant, some of my coworkers have quite often, and what the Union does to "protect" their jobs is obscene. An engineer can't move his own computer from one office to another because it's a union job. And it gets worse.

The other big problem(related to the UAW) is the healthcare costs for an aging workforce. I used to be a Safety and Environmental Manager for a Plant and an ER visit went from $400 to $1200 in a matter of nine months. The awards some people get from lawsuits is insane. Don't get me wrong, I think if someone does something and it hurts you, I think you should be compensated. But some of these awards are really out there. Also a company maliciously hurting employees should have to pay a hefty award, but some of this is silly.