3,500 without jobs after GM cuts a shift

I wish they would just make better cars so I didn't have to buy a honda.

As someone who works at one of the affected plants, it is very sad news. People working here could see the writing on the wall but the news still hit hard. I just do not undertand why GM has not made a big push with their high mileage vehicles. They even discontinued making some of them - remember the Geo Metro (50 mph). Why weren't they prepared for this? They had enough warning.
The worst part here is the effect it will have on our entire community. Other plants that supply this plant will also be laying off people. The local business' will be hit hard because fewer people will be out shopping. Laying off at this plant trickles down through the entire town and surrounding area. I'd have to believe that the same is true for the other plants that were given the news today, also.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this. This action is affecting people - not just a huge corporation - but good, honest, hard-working people.

the workers in these plants brought the job cuts on themselves. they work these union jobs with higher than deserved pay and rediculous benifits, and expect the car companies to be able to compete with foreign car manufacturers. these people actually expect to have full medical and pension plans, that they knew would bankrupt the american auto makers. all this for someone that has a g.e.d. and just scews in a few bolts on an assembly line. i don't feel bad one bit. get rid of these unions that we haven't needed in 30+ years and pay these people a fair wage for the education and technical knowlege they have. then the auto makers use the extra money to make these vehicles more reliable and better quality so that more people will choose them over foreign cars.

And this is why they should Vote for Obama. He's the only one talking about jobs for Americans - except McCain, his idea of employment for American's is the US military with his (Busheney's) continued war and all.

Hillary will probably bomb anyway Iran because of... I'll stop there so as not to disenfranchise the female Current members. Opps, I've said too much already.

I am going to assume that you, sephig, have never worked on an assembly line. Not everyone who works on the line has an easy time of it and just puts in a few screws. Try it sometime. They deserve every cent they make. Try doing the exact same thing over and over again every 50 to 60 seconds for 10 hours a day.
I don't work on the line. Matter-of-fact, I am not a real GM worker. I am a contract employee but I have been here 22 years and these people bust their butts working. Some of the jobs are a piece of cake but since the jobs are handed out by seniroity, the high seniority workers have them and the newer ones work hard. You can't just walk away from the job because you need to use the bathroom. You stay and do your job until you can be freed up to go. Yes, they had excellent benefits. What is wrong with that? Wish I had their benefits.

I'm sure if you look into it, the CEO and shareholders aren't sacrificing anything.

sephig ,

Have you NO COMPASSION MAN?

I guess you don't.

Hopefully you won't get there..

Tonight, before you go to sleep, please count your blessngs because ..

The Grim Reaper who used to come for your soul now has a new target...

YOUR JOB...

Please do find some humility before you have to bite the bullet!:(

If they switched to more energy-efficient cars, then this wouldn't have happened. Instead, more people lose thier jobs, which will probably lead to more homes foreclosed, snowballing even further when the Motor City's economy runs completely out of gas.

sephig, I don't understand your point of view. What kind of pay do you suppose GM executives make? And who do you suppose decided GM should make a bunch of SUVs and pickups at this particular time in history? The workers? Are you retarded?

Just once, just ONCE, I'd like to see a CEO lose his job in a situation like this, just fucking once.

Defend yourself, fiend!

so we should go back to the way the automakers were in the 80's where if u were lucky a car might last you 4 years. most of the problems with the auto industry they brought on themselves.
no i havent ever worked on an assembly line but that doesn't mean these people deserve the pay and benifits they are recieving, i bet the fry cook at mc donalds thinks his job is hard also but you don't see them making $60 hr. plus rediculous benifits and the skill level for those jobs are basically the same u do the same crap over and over. why do u think they are moving these plants to the south by the way its not because of the nicer weather its because they are mostly right to work states where the unions don't have there control

So, basically, sephig, your point is that as long as the rich executives get richer and keep the working man in poverty, it's all good? Minimum wage is good enough for these poor, uneducated cogs? Meanwhile, CEOs walk away with tens of millions a year? Because their job is REALLY hard?

What is so ridiculous about the benefits these auto workers have been getting? I mean, have you got any information to back up your position?

The line employees also do not make anything close to $60 an hour. The CEOs just get richer.

my dad's friend retired from ford he gets a pension from them for the rest of his life the pension was equal to 80% of his last pay plus full medical, dental, and vision. there are no deductables either plus gets the discount on any ford product he buys.

i can understand a pension lots of companies offered those back in the day but the medical is above and beyond no companies or very few could offer anything close to that. that is whats hurting these companies

most companies today will offer some sort of 401k but pensions and medical coverage after you retired is almost completely gone from the workplace i know govt jobs still offer this but thats about it

The problems these companies are having are the fault of the executives, period. I have nothing but contempt for them. A person works a lifetime for these guys, they SHOULD get those kinds of benefits.

Now, if a company was making a good-faith effort to provide its employees with excellent salary, benefits and retirement packages but having trouble competing in the global marketplace, fine. Maybe the government should take a look at how to help - like with health care costs, for example.

But these corporations that lay off workers because of the idiotic decisions of management and then blame absolutely everyone else but management, then give big bonuses to management, can go fuck themselves.

I have no idea how this lay off could be the fault of the employees that build the SUV’s. If anything GM is to fault for buying into the SUV craze. What Americans need are smaller more efficient vehicles not satisfied soccer moms who can now lug the team around in a glossy, gas guzzling tanks. By the way what’s wrong with higher paying jobs?

I took this quote from a study conducted by the ERI Economic Research Institute and The Wall Street Journal

“During the past 12 months, overall total compensation of the highest-paid executive increased 20.5 percent while revenues increased 2.8 percent, the study found. As of February 2008, the average top executive received overall total compensation of $18,813,697, according to the study. In comparison, the median pay for workers rose only 3.5 percent to $36,140 in 2007, from $34,892 the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

So if anything Americas have there CEO’s to blame and not their regular employees. Furthermore when compared to the rest of the world American CEO’s make far more money in respects to their file and rank employees then everyone else. Why is this happening in our country? I think the best example would be Sephig. Here is one ill-informed boob who when faced with an issue decides to lash out at a system which he obviously has issues with.

Hey dude if you don’t like unions just move to China they’ll take great care of you.

sounds like u got it all figured out .

i never said it was entirely the fault of the employees obviously the excecutives had a major role in this. all i'm saying is the workers are not completely innocent in all of this, they are the ones that join these unions that set the ludicrus contracts that they work under . that is why most of the new car manufacturing plants are not opening in michigan. michigan is a dieng state .

they way your talking you would like to see wealth redistribution, lets have everyone make the same amount of money get the same benifits blah blah blah. sorry blaze socialism doesnt work its been proven

sorry most of the country works in jobs without having to suffer being in a union. people still get there raises people still get there benifits they just have to earn them they can't sit back and let these unions cover for there poor performance.

we are not living in the 1890's work conditions here in the U.S. are not as bad as u think

interesting banter, but I think its all economics (markets for labor). We are now a service economy; in fact the only thing we manufacture well is debt..we all need to constantly tweak and add to our skills sets to stay competitive, and speaking as a consultant, these benefits (pensions, retiree medical etc) are COSTS, so as a company, if the revenues are not covering the costs, they must be dealt with; this economics is universal..if the US wants to play on the global platform, it has to follow the global rules. Its edge is in creativity and innovation (high margin stuff), manufacturing is low margin stuff, ergo, its gets the axe first..the lesson is build your skills portfolio or else prepare to be poor

You're goddamn right I'd like to see some redistribution of wealth. We live in the richest country in the world and we can't even feed and clothe all of our own people, let alone provide them with health care. The rich have a moral responsibility to help those less fortunate than themselves. And if the wealthy won't do it themselves, then the government should take a big honking chunk of their money from them and redistribute it. Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying, sephig.

Saying, "The market is the market," is no different than saying, "Boys will be boys," by way of excusing bad behavior. Greed is greed is greed.

blaze so in your view of the world we can all just sit around and let the rich people take care of us sounds like a plan .

with your logic there would be no mottivation to exccel to try and make things better for yourself and your family because in your world hard work gets you the same thing as sitting on your ass.

sounds a bit like communism to me we see how well that did

If banks can get socialized bail outs, why can't the automitive industry be subsidized?

they do the gov bailed out chrysler back in the late 70's early 80's

I love cars. The problem with American cars however at this point is that they are not very marketable. If I want a cheap car, I would choose a hyundai (korean). If I want a good quality car for my value, I would choose a honda (japanese). If I want a luxury car, I would go with either BMW or Mercedes (german). Americans are good at making sports cars, such as the Corvette, but these cars aren't ones that every one would buy due to practical reasons. They are also known for their trucks, but even the japanese are catching up to americans in this market as well.

10 years ago, my family drove all american cars. Now we drive foreign cars. American automobiles have simply lost their appeal. Most of them have cheap plasticky interiors, they are relatively expensive, some get good gas mileage,(but the japanese are better), and their drivetrains aren't known to last very long. The U.S. companies have to pull up their socks if they still want to be competitive on the world stage.

Wow, sephig what is your deal with unions? Have you ever been a member to one? Some of the posts you have made appear to be the most ignorant non-racist things I have ever read.
As a union stagehand I can tell you from when I worked for non-union gigs, unions are definitely needed. They keep work SAFE, they keep work FAIR, and they foster an environment that trains people correctly. There are some unions which give unions bad names, but overall they are probably the greatest asset to producing quality goods and services in this country. Without unions, this country doesn't run. Period. You do not own a single thing that would be yours without a union. You wouldn't even have Current tv without the IATSE union. Trust me, without unions working conditions for every aspect of life would suffer. There is a reason working conditions have advanced since the 1890s and it is unions, you take away unions and you will watch the employers take advantage of there workers just like in every country without true unions.

I agree with Ricky84, just go check out china's working conditions. It doesn't matter what century your in, greed is greed.

As you said, you have never worked on an assembly line. You should never make snap judgments on people like that without taking a true walk in there shoes and working that job. I am certain there are mindless aspects to it pretty much every job has SOMETHING mindless in it. I am also certain however, there are dangerous aspects as well as parts that require great technical knowledge and training. Spitting on unions the way you have demeans not just these peoples jobs, but there lives themselves.

Our economy needs to change, and rapidly, because we are looking at some dark times. I agree most whole-heartedly with redistribution of wealth at a certain level, universal health care, and paying people what they're worth, which means paying taxes so teachers make a decent living.

Unions were designed to protect workers and make sure they can make a living wage and not get screwed, and maybe some unions don't hold up their end of the bargain, but overall they are a tool for protecting people.

What I really think is going on is that our economy is based on an unsustainable model. We need to stop producing heedlessly and start rebuilding an infrastructure that can actually support us (which will provide a ton of jobs). If we don't people's jobs will continue to disappear and our planet will become inhabitable.

Sephig,

The ancient Greeks told their wealthy that they HAD TO pay for part of a ship being built.

Those who have extraordinary wealth should help it's just the right thing to do.

Now, I never worked on an assembly line but I did work in a commercial print shop..and NOT a small one.

I spent much of that time slaving over a hot machine, sometimes getting a burn, most not but always spending 8-12 hours mostly on my feet.

We weren't lucky enough to have a union...

Most of the time riding home I was falling asleep at the wheel because I was so tired.

And I have a college degree no less...

And now, after 6 years working as a Technical Customer Service Rep for Panasonic, I'm out of a job again...

This time because some poor Phillipino got my job because my entire office was outsourced!

Sephig, believe me...you know little about what it's truly like...

Count your blessings....

This is a classic case of American companies biting the hand that feeds them. When all of these corporations (that created the middle class, the people who purchase their products) decide to ship jobs overseas so they could save a buck, they got rid of a big chunk of their buyers. People who don't have jobs don't shop.

The simple solution is to bring those jobs(at the same pay, not minimum wage) back to America. When we have more money, we'll buy more stuff.

Or, they can just keep watching their sales go down. It seems to me that bringing jobs back would be the better business decision.