GM Workers Face Bleak Future

Employees Talk About Pending Pink Slips At One GM Plant In Michigan

(CBS)  At the General Motors assembly plant here in Orion, Mich., the chimneys churn out white plumes of smoke and freshly minted Pontiacs G6s and Chevrolet Malibus roll off the assembly line. It's a three-shift, 4,000 worker operation that runs 24 hours a day. But all that could be a memory in a matter of weeks.

GM announced Tuesday that it will seek as much as $18 billion in federal loans over the course of the next four months. Without the money, the world's largest automaker could collapse by the end of the year.

This has GM employee Joel Blatchford and his co-workers understandably on edge.

"It's probably the most frightening time I've ever experienced at GM," says Blatchford, a 23-year veteran of the company. "You work for this many years and you're counting on a future with a pension. You're getting close to paying things off ... and you're seeing the company go through a meltdown."

In order to cut costs, GM says it will shed dealerships and trim down to four main brands - Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Pontiac will become a specialty label. It will also cut its workforce by more than 30,000 jobs in the next three years.

As for layoffs at the Orion factory, plant manager Gary Malkus says cuts are right around the corner. "We have announced that we will have a reduction in line speed in February and hundreds of people will be laid off."

Joel Persinger, a shop committeeman at the plant, compares GM's financial situation to that of a struggling family. "When times tighten up you have to look at what you're spending and cut any costs where you possibly can," he says.

But despite the bleak outlook, Persinger says GM is doing the right thing given the circumstances. "Honestly, I would run my household pretty damn close to what they're doing right now."

[jt_lancer]

Notice that none of the non-unionized foreign automakers with plants in the US are begging the government for a taxpayer handout. Competition is a b&tch, ain''t it?

[lloydbest1]

So far in this thread I have heard very little about the gross overcompensation of the executive suite and a whole lot about how much the line worker is being overpaid.
Maybe getting $28 per hour is a bit much for twisting a wrench but recieving (NOT earning, you''ll note) $600000 base salary and a 2007 bonus of another $46 million dollars for single handedly running a company into the ground (Wagoner) is beyond disgusting. NO one deserves that kind of an income - not even God. And especially NOT someone who has overseen the hemorrhage GM has undergone the past few years (yup, they lost money last year, too)
So, those of you who are throwing darts at the so-called fat contracts the assemblyman (or woman) are getting for doing nothing should direct your anger at the outratgeous salary and benefit packages that executive level managenent have recieved yearly for doing essentially the same thing.
If the UAW has to dial back a little - and they absolutely must(!), then the those at the top must dial back to nothing or the next thing to it and learn to live on their holdings until the crisis is past.

[memewolf]

Let the auto makers declare bankruptcy. There will be no more cutbacks or layoffs than they are already proposing to do to get the bailouts. I''m tired of seeing my money go to let large corporation CEO''s and top ex live high on hog while I have to cut out some of my food and medicine to make ends meet. While we''re at it let''s demand that congress vote to not accept a pay raise next year. If they don''t vote against it they get it.

[wl7bzh]

The way unions are going Jimmy Hoffa is probably rolling over his cement wetsuit.

[mrmeatspin]

When college students used to work the assmebly lines during their summer breaks, it would often take two of them to handle one job. Anyone who says line workers have an easy job is ignorant. The problem for displaced UAW workers is going to be and has always been that "real jobs" require a different skill-set and education.


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Posted by JoePack61 at 05:23 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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its pretty easy to mow a lawn, its so eaasy a caveman can do it batabing bataboom (its sad but its time to face reality)

[mrmeatspin]

and jobs have been shipped overseas for the last decade or so. A person cannot hold onto a house without a job.


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Posted by JoePack61 at 05:28 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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because of unions..like the UAW..its cheaper to send jobs overseas..(do you know how much a UAW member makes an hour?)

[mrmeatspin]

Starting around 2010, new UAW workers will start at $14.00 per hour pay. Illegal and legal Mexican landscapers and construction workers can make around $18.00 per hour pay, believe it or don%u2019t.


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Posted by JoePack61 at 05:15 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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cool now we can disband the UAW, deport all the illegal aliens and let the ex-UAW members pick produce, mow my lawn and bus my table..

2 problems solved

[joepack61]

Staplesla, why is housing a problem? Loans were made to people who couldn''t afford them, risky loans were made to speculators often for zero interst, we had a huge real estate bubble in 2003 that burst around 2005, and jobs have been shipped overseas for the last decade or so. A person cannot hold onto a house without a job.

[joepack61]

When college students used to work the assmebly lines during their summer breaks, it would often take two of them to handle one job. Anyone who says line workers have an easy job is ignorant. The problem for displaced UAW workers is going to be and has always been that "real jobs" require a different skill-set and education.

[joepack61]

Starting around 2010, new UAW workers will start at $14.00 per hour pay. Illegal and legal Mexican landscapers and construction workers can make around $18.00 per hour pay, believe it or don%u2019t.

[staplesla]

These bailouts are a joke. We''ve already given away $2 trillion but haven''t fixed the underlying problem which started this - housing. We must stop rewarding poorly managed companies with bailouts that have no oversight.

I hear it argued that we must bailout the automakers to save jobs and avoid a depression. This is another scare tactic. Auto sales will be down to 9-10 million anually, from the 16 million last year. That to me says job losses/consolidation regardless of whether they get the money. Plus GM/Ford/Chrysler in their new bailout plans stated they%u2019d have to lay off massive amounts of people anyway. In addition, this bailout money will only get them through March. They need to file bankruptcy like any other firm so that the courts can negotiate all of their ridiculous contracts, benefits, etc.

Any bailout should be spent on fixing the housing crisis or it won''t matter if GM/Ford/Chrysler survive. If you can''t afford your mortgage payment, you surely aren''t going to buy a car.

If we don''t stop this bailout, this will set a precedent for the airlines to be next, then hotels/travel industry, then restaurants, etc. It''s got to stop. We should be investing in the sectors of this country that will actually grow our GDP and us as a country.

Contact Congress and tell them to vote no.
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress

[misogynist10]

The UAW has brainwashed the employees to have an entitlement mentality and never be conservative with their money. The overpaid hillbillies who have made all the big bucks for so many years were much more focused on blowing their money than saving any. But the gravy train will end soon, and those of us watching from the stands will have a ball watching these slugs try to get hired into jobs where they will be expected to work.

[beachshoe]

Let the Big 3 file bankruptcy. Them and UAW are finally getting their just due. Welcome to the real world. The sad part is the workers get the shaft. Figures!
let them go bankrupt and then the cream will rise to the top!

[beachshoe]

Trivial question, but who is going to supply vehicles to the entertainment industry when they make tv shows, movies, etc.? And I do not favor a bailout.

[armandbeni]

Bye UAW.....Either your contracts will be renegotiated down to competative levels or the companies will go under and reorganise with no UAQ contract. It is about time. The UAW has driven the cost of American vehicles up for 50 years with fat contracts and I for one am sick and tired of paying for it. This is why America lost so much of the car market in the first place, high wages for poor proformance.
The biggest problem for the soon to be ex-uaw member will be getting hired in the real world. There aren''t many employers who will put up with their attitude and work ethic.

[mediawatch50]

hitoyou11, you do not appear to be bright enough to have any sort of a Union card, unless it is the United Morons of America.

The $28 figure IS what that older workers are making. Your right-wing freak show sources will tell you different, but they are lying--just like you are lying about being a UAW member.

[hitoyou11]

It is impossible to have any sort of intelligent discussion with posters who persist in believing and spreading lies and distortions. The current starting wage for a line worker at these plants is $14.80. The most that any of them are making is around $28.00
No it''s not. We just ask you stop the LIES. You say that the worker make ***** right now. SO what des the person make that has bee at one of the BIG 3 6 years. You LIE just like all UAW peopel do. I know I have UAW union Card.

[hitoyou11]

The head of the UAW is on TV tilling more LIES. He is just like all UAW menbers, no good. The UAW makes to much money, and they know it. They are over paid, and do very little work. Close, that is what the big 3 need to do. I amtired of hearinf all the lies of the UAW.

[wl7bzh]

The right wing is determined to destroy this country and destroy the middle class, and their willing, foolish dupes who post here think that they will somehow be exempted from that.

Posted by mediawatch50 at 11:43 AM : Dec 04, 2008

So you are saying that you or a relative is not a Union member? Goes to issues of bias and credibility.

[mediawatch50]

It is impossible to have any sort of intelligent discussion with posters who persist in believing and spreading lies and distortions. The current starting wage for a line worker at these plants is $14.80. The most that any of them are making is around $28.00

Their health insurance carries very high out-of-pocket costs and has poor coverage. The $70-$80 per hour figure is a LIE that was created by rolling in all of the workers who are retired and drawing the pensions that they earned.

The right wing is determined to destroy this country and destroy the middle class, and their willing, foolish dupes who post here think that they will somehow be exempted from that.