Having followed other threads in 'General News and Business Articles' with great interest, especially GM News, this article (of a different flavor) is offered for discussion to explore other 'possible' root causes. We do live in an exciting time of history in the making.

Decades of corrupt collusion with the foreign-aid industry have left General Motors, once the colossus of the auto industry, facing extinction.

by William Norman Grigg
The New American - Cover Story - May 16, 2005 - (Vol. 21, No. 10)

General Motors is not merely the world's largest car manufacturer; it is an institutional icon of American capitalism, a pillar of our manufacturing economy, and for decades has been among the bluest of blue-chip investments. As the industry leader in one of America's signature industries, GM is regarded by economists, sociologists, and pundits as a bellwether of our nation's economic fortunes.

Thus it's a matter of no small concern that GM, the once-unassailable colossus of the auto industry, appears destined either for extinction or a taxpayer-funded bailout.

On April 18, GM announced first quarter losses of $1.1 billion. That dismal report came two weeks after Moody's Investor's Service cut GM's debt rating to what a Reuters report called "a step above junk status." The company is saddled with roughly $300 million in debt, and a descent into outright junk status would make it difficult - perhaps approaching impossible - for GM to borrow money as interest rates begin to increase.

“There seems to be no mechanism for a renewal of the company short of bankruptcy.” Commented Britain’s Supplier Business journal. A leveraged buy-out seems extremely unlikely at best, since GM’s pension and health care liabilities represent “a poison pill to would-be acquirers.”

Over the past several years, GM has capitalized on the Federal Reserve’s efforts to hold down interest rates by avidly promoting zero-interest, no money-down offers to car buyers. And also thanks to the Fed’s loose money and credit policy, GM’s financial subsidiary, General Motors Acceptance Corp (GMAC), has become the company’s most profitable concern.

“If GMAC were an independent company, it would be the eighth-largest U.S. bank,” observed a March 23, 2004 Bloomberg News report. While GM’s auto sales have remained stagnant, “it’s the financial unit GMAC that [has been] most crucial to General Motors’ performance.” In 2003, “the worlds No. 1 automaker earned far more profit - $2.8 billion, or 87.5% of the $3.2 billion total - lending money, writing mortgages and selling securities than it did selling its cars and trucks…Now, GMAC’s ability to prop up its parent could be jeopardized because borrowing costs will rise ‘at some point,’ says Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.”

Since those words were published a year ago, “at some point” has arrived - with the expected results for GM’s financial arm. While GMAC remains the “only bright spot in GM’s portfolio,” commented the April 6 Cincinnati Enquirer, its profits “are quickly coming under pressure because of higher interest rates.” This means, once again, that GM will have to borrow money, at rapidly escalating interest rates, in order to finance car leases and purchases (as well as GMAC’s home mortgage loans.) However, customers who bought cars in recent years “will be paying lower interest rates until they turn in or sell their vehicles” - thereby creating another revenue shortfall for the company. Accordingly, it’s not surprising that GMAC, the conglomerate’s only profitable concern, has recently been rated two steps above junk bond status.

Many of GM’s problems stem from a bad business model in which a supposed automobile manufacturer has made seven times a much profit from lending money than it has from building and selling cars - a model based in large part on the engineered boom and bust cycles of the Fed’s own monetary machinations. GM’s decline has also been encouraged by a corrupt relationship with the federal government’s foreign aid bureaucracy, which has subsidized the company’s efforts to move production overseas - especially to Communist China and the former Soviet Union.

Beijing Motors? A press conference held at the Great Wall unveiled the Chinese-built General Motors Hy-wire, a fuel cell-powered automobile. GM began producing cars in China 20 years ago, and the Asian giant may soon emerge as the world’s leading auto manufacturer.

GM Vice President Troy Clarke posed in front of the Chinese-built Sequel automobile during a presentation in Shanghai.


[See attachment], For those who want to read the complete article.

Caution, these are personal opinions expressed after some Bubs.

The whole thing is really scary. The economy is skunky IMO. We are loosing jobs over seas and it will continue I think because the union leaders are led by the ones who don't care about lost jobs. They live for today and 3-4 years from now they retire. In 10 years, the automotive industry in this country will be a disaster.

I think union leadership in tandem with American auto makers could turn things around it they wanted to. The US government can't afford to bail out the GM pension program.

The Japanese are doing well because they are good, and they don't have the pension and union burden.

I think the only way to save the US auto industry for Ford and GM is for the unions to come up with a compromise plan to prevent the jobs from going overseas.

Thanks for the :caution: . Yes, this topic (especially at this level) could be a sacred cow. And I might be tarred, feathered and run out of "The Cove" on a rail, for posting this, but I weighed in on this one to see if some brave souls would openly discuss this aspect or condemn it. BTW, What's a "Bubs"?


Caution, these are personal opinions expressed after some Bubs.

The whole thing is really scary. The economy is skunky IMO. We are loosing jobs over seas and it will continue I think because the union leaders are led by the ones who don't care about lost jobs. They live for today and 3-4 years from now they retire. In 10 years, the automotive industry in this country will be a disaster.

I think union leadership in tandem with American auto makers could turn things around it they wanted to. The US government can't afford to bail out the GM pension program.

The Japanese are doing well because they are good, and they don't have the pension and union burden.

I think the only way to save the US auto industry for Ford and GM is for the unions to come up with a compromise plan to prevent the jobs from going overseas.

BTW, What's a "Bubs"?
Oh ****, I meant Buds. It is a scary topic. Especially for us consultants, and auditors, loosing work and all.

Thanks for the :caution: . Yes, this topic (especially at this level) could be a sacred cow. And I might be tarred, feathered and run out of "The Cove" on a rail, for posting this, but I weighed in on this one to see if some brave souls would openly discuss this aspect or condemn it. BTW, What's a "Bubs"?
Well, I reckon you deserve a little karma before they run you out. What about me?

Well, I reckon you deserve a little karma before they run you out. What about me?

Haven't met a consultant or auditor yet that I didn't take a liking to right away. Here's some karma for you. 'Git r done!'

Yes, this topic (especially at this level) could be a sacred cow. And I might be tarred, feathered and run out of "The Cove" on a rail, for posting this...Oh, I don't think that's going to happen. Because of my recent thread, though, there are a few people who would like to tar and feather me I think... :rolleyes:

I will say I'm in Bangkok because so much automotive is moving here to Thailand. GM and Ford both have plants here as well. I may end up moving here because there's plenty of work. On the other hand, it will be quite a life style change. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it.

I will say I'm in Bangkok because so much automotive is moving here to Thailand. GM and Ford both have plants here as well. I may end up moving here because there's plenty of work. On the other hand, it will be quite a life style change. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it.

Mmmm.... Thai food.

Having worked for several years at a GM supplier and formerly GM-owned company, I will point out that the union leaders are not only getting ready to retire within the next few years, but they don’t seem to fully grasp the seriousness of the situation.

I won’t even get into all the problems I saw with the union, but the general attitude was the same as it was 20 years ago – “I’m expected to make at least 400 parts on my shift, so I’ll make my 400, which should take me about 6 hours, and then I’ll read a magazine until it’s time to go home.” That was fine 20 years ago when the plant was making so much money, it had cash and man-hours to burn. Then, nobody saw any need to try to make the company more profitable.

Where I worked, it was like nobody in the union realized that that plant is NOT MAKING MONEY anymore. You often heard “Oh, they just want to reduce headcount in this department so the greedy owners can make more money.” All management wanted to do was get the plant back out of the red.

Aside from being unwilling to make any concessions to the company, the union continued to burn company cash by putting up fights over stupid things. Because of headcount reductions, we were at a point where we had one snack machine and one soda machine for every 10 people in the plant. The food service company that had the contract decided to reduce them to match the current need.

The union filed a grievance, because employees had to walk an average of an extra 100 feet to get their Twinkies and Pepsi. Company management wasn’t even responsible for the change, so we tried to talk the vendor into putting the machines back. They wouldn’t, so we ended up making all kinds of concessions to the union as a “fair exchange” because the union had us by the you-know-what. Things like paying people the wages they lost when they were sent home without pay for discipline, and re-hiring (with back pay) people who had been fired for showing up drunk or high on coke for the 5th time. Over some vending machines.

It was absurd. I’m not saying the union guys were a bunch of jerks, I just honestly don’t think they believed management when they said “We’re not making money anymore, guys.”

I know I’ll probably get flamed for this, and I’m not necessarily anti-union, but anytime the child is allowed to boss the parent around, it’s not going to turn out well.

It was absurd. I’m not saying the union guys were a bunch of jerks, I just honestly don’t think they believed management when they said “We’re not making money anymore, guys.”
No flames from me because there's enough blame to go around, but part of the reason that the union didn't believe the no-profit cries from management was having been lied to so many times when GM was making money. It seems that the defining characteristic of management in big business in the US is that they can't be trusted to keep their word.

I know I’ll probably get flamed for this, and I’m not necessarily anti-union, but anytime the child is allowed to boss the parent around, it’s not going to turn out well.
Well, maybe a small flame. That seems a rather condescending attitude--that management is the parent and hourly workers are children. Could it be that the rank-and-file might be a little (justifiably) resentful over such a characterization? Management of publicly-owned corporations doesn't own the company, any more than the hourly workers do. It's management's job to provide guidance in producing profit, and to represent the interests of shareholders. You can't do either if the hourly workers are regarded as mischievous children.

Mmmm.... Thai food.

Having worked for several years at a GM supplier and formerly GM-owned company, I will point out that the union leaders are not only getting ready to retire within the next few years, but they don’t seem to fully grasp the seriousness of the situation.

I won’t even get into all the problems I saw with the union, but the general attitude was the same as it was 20 years ago – “I’m expected to make at least 400 parts on my shift, so I’ll make my 400, which should take me about 6 hours, and then I’ll read a magazine until it’s time to go home.” That was fine 20 years ago when the plant was making so much money, it had cash and man-hours to burn. Then, nobody saw any need to try to make the company more profitable.

Where I worked, it was like nobody in the union realized that that plant is NOT MAKING MONEY anymore. You often heard “Oh, they just want to reduce headcount in this department so the greedy owners can make more money.” All management wanted to do was get the plant back out of the red.

Aside from being unwilling to make any concessions to the company, the union continued to burn company cash by putting up fights over stupid things. Because of headcount reductions, we were at a point where we had one snack machine and one soda machine for every 10 people in the plant. The food service company that had the contract decided to reduce them to match the current need.

The union filed a grievance, because employees had to walk an average of an extra 100 feet to get their Twinkies and Pepsi. Company management wasn’t even responsible for the change, so we tried to talk the vendor into putting the machines back. They wouldn’t, so we ended up making all kinds of concessions to the union as a “fair exchange” because the union had us by the you-know-what. Things like paying people the wages they lost when they were sent home without pay for discipline, and re-hiring (with back pay) people who had been fired for showing up drunk or high on coke for the 5th time. Over some vending machines.

It was absurd. I’m not saying the union guys were a bunch of jerks, I just honestly don’t think they believed management when they said “We’re not making money anymore, guys.”

I know I’ll probably get flamed for this, and I’m not necessarily anti-union, but anytime the child is allowed to boss the parent around, it’s not going to turn out well.

No your not getting shot down for your post. I believe this is an aspect of management that should be openly studied and dialogued at the Cove.
The union and management could (If they wished) be viable partners in business yet both choose to be separate and therefore diametrically opposed to one another.
Unionism is a necessary part of the auto production industry IMO. At my location the CAW very efficiently organizes labor in a manner that management could never succeed with.
I definitely agree with the body of your post: unions do indeed have the ability and resolve to work very closely with auto management and, I furthermore believe they just have to, if the auto industry is to survive at all in any shape or format in North America.
The social/political aspect of unionism does indeed grieve me at times, when I see extreme actions taken to represent dead wood.
Wallace.

Oh, I don't think that's going to happen. Because of my recent thread, though, there are a few people who would like to tar and feather me I think... :rolleyes:

I will say I'm in Bangkok because so much automotive is moving here to Thailand. GM and Ford both have plants here as well. I may end up moving here because there's plenty of work. On the other hand, it will be quite a life style change. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it.

Well, as you've said before...this IS your sandbox. I'm thinking it might be a good idea for me to learn a new language or 2. Is 'quality' a universal language. :confused:

No flames from me because there's enough blame to go around, but part of the reason that the union didn't believe the no-profit cries from management was having been lied to so many times when GM was making money. It seems that the defining characteristic of management in big business in the US is that they can't be trusted to keep their word.

See, that I didn't know - I'm too young to remember!


Well, maybe a small flame. That seems a rather condescending attitude--that management is the parent and hourly workers are children. Could it be that the rank-and-file might be a little (justifiably) resentful over such a characterization? Management of publicly-owned corporations doesn't own the company, any more than the hourly workers do. It's management's job to provide guidance in producing profit, and to represent the interests of shareholders. You can't do either if the hourly workers are regarded as mischievous children.

I certainly didn't mean that the way it obviously came out. Now, what I did mean might not be any better in your mind. I just meant that the company is the parent organization of the union. No company, no union.

I’ve also never been a believer that the parent should always boss the child around – sometimes, the child really does know what’s best.

All I’m saying is that we’ve all seen that kid who tells his parents how it’s going to be. And sometimes, he’ll boss them around just for the joy of wielding his power.

I mean honestly, over vending machines?

The whole thing is really scary. The economy is skunky IMO. We are loosing jobs over seas and it will continue I think because the union leaders are led by the ones who don't care about lost jobs. They live for today and 3-4 years from now they retire. In 10 years, the automotive industry in this country will be a disaster.

I think union leadership in tandem with American auto makers could turn things around it they wanted to. The US government can't afford to bail out the GM pension program.

The Japanese are doing well because they are good, and they don't have the pension and union burden.

I think the only way to save the US auto industry for Ford and GM is for the unions to come up with a compromise plan to prevent the jobs from going overseas.

IMHO, I think it's the U.S. taxpayer that can't afford to bail out GM. The U.S. government and it's minions of bureaucrats can and will afford (at taxpayer expense), to bail out (subsidize), whomever and whatever they choose.

BTW, did you read the entire (original) article? I had to read it several times to get things into perspective.

BTW, did you read the entire (original) article? I had to read it several times to get things into perspective.
I did now. Seems like a huge conspiracy by someone to take over the world.

I did now. Seems like a huge conspiracy by someone to take over the world.

I don't know about a huge conspiracy, but I am trying to sort out the facts from as many reliable sources as possible. This particular author, Mr. Grigg, seems to be able to paint a larger than life picture of the GM story. We get all these fragmented news clips from the media, and it's difficult at best to see the BIG picture. What Mr. Grigg has written is almost too much to digest, but to significant to totally ignore.

Time will tell.
History repeats itself.
All things have a cycle.
Cause and effect.
Root cause analysis.
Etc., Etc., Etc.

:topic:
Can someone who worked for these auto makers confirm that this is the way things are done at each of the companies? I mean is this the way they would really bake a potato?

Baking potatoes the automotive industry way:

How a Honda employee bakes a potato:

Preheat new, high-quality oven to 350 F. Insert Idaho potato. Go do
something productive for 45 minutes. Check for doneness, and then remove
perfectly baked potato from oven and serve.

How a GM employee bakes a potato:

Instruct an Idaho potato supplier to preheat the oven to 350 F. Demand that
the supplier show you how he turned the dial to reach 350F, and have him
come up with documentation from the oven manufacturer proving that it was
calibrated properly. Review documentation, then have supplier check the
temperature using sophisticated temperature probe. Direct supplier to
insert potato and set timer for 45 minutes. Have supplier open oven to
prove potato has been installed correctly, and request a free study proving
that 45 minutes is the ideal time to bake a potato of this size.

Check potato for doneness after 10 minutes.

Check potato for doneness after 11 minutes.

Check potato for doneness after 12 minutes.

Become impatient with supplier (why is this simple potato taking so long to
bake?). Demand status reports every five minutes. Check potato for
doneness after 15 minutes... After 35 minutes, conclude that potato is
nearing completion. Congratulate supplier, and then update your boss on all
the great work you've done, despite having to work with such an
uncooperative supplier. Remove potato from oven after 40 minutes of baking,
as a cost savings; without loss of function or quality versus the original
45 minute baking time. Serve potato.

Wonder aloud what on earth those Japanese folks are doing over there to
make such good low-cost baked potatoes that people seem to like better than
GM potatoes.

Daimler Chrysler's Baked Potatoes:

Design great looking potato. Include sour cream, bacon bits, chives, and
cheese. Bean counters then create MCM system. Engineers spend 2 years
looking for ways to take out sour cream, bacon bits, chives, and cheese.
Engineers find cheap imitation chives from Japanese supplier. Management
commands engineers to use expensive, over-engineered German bacon bits to
help prop up weak German suppliers. Sell potato with cheap imitation
chives, no sour cream, cheese or expensive German bacon bits. Potato rots
so fast customer swears never to buy another DCX potato.

Ford's Baked Potatoes:

Engineers create plain looking, "everyman" potato. Sold as "green"
alternative to French Fries. When micro waved, potato explodes, causing
death and injury to customers and bringing end to 100-year potato and
butter-supplier relationship, Lawyers flourish.

Can someone who worked for these auto makers confirm that this is the way things are done at each of the companies? I mean is this the way they would really bake a potatoe?
Here's an actual, real-life story that perfectly illlustrates the problem with GM:

The company I worked for was a tier-1 supplier. A PPAP package had been submitted, and several days later I learned that the submission had been rejected, and a PR&R (Problem Reporting and Resolution, GM's CAR system) had been initiated. The alleged problem had to do with an alleged omission--certain documentation was said to be missing from the package. It wasn't. A phone call was placed to the SQE who rejected the submission. I asked him to look again at the PPAP package, and told him where to find the document he claimed was missing.
SQE: Oh, yeah, here it is. I'll be darned. I guess I was just looking in the wrong place.

Me: Great. I'll need for you to reverse the rejection and back the PR&R out.

SQE: I can accept the PPAP, but you'll have to answer the PR&R.

Me: But if the PR&R stands, we'll take a PPM hit, so I really need for you to back it out.

SQE: Sorry, I can't do that. You have to answer it.

Me: If I answer it, I have to say the the root cause was your mistake. Why should we
take a hit for that?

SQE: Once the PR&R is initiated, it has to be answered.

Me: No it doesn't. You can back it out. I know this to be the case, because it's been
done before.

SQE (now very irritated): Look--I just got out of school, I've only been here for three
weeks and I have no idea what I'm doing. You have to answer it.

Great Story...Can I use it? :agree1:

:topic:
Can someone who worked for these auto makers confirm that this is the way things are done at each of the companies? I mean is this the way they would really bake a potato?

Baking potatoes the automotive industry way:

How a Honda employee bakes a potato:

Preheat new, high-quality oven to 350 F. Insert Idaho potato. Go do
something productive for 45 minutes. Check for doneness, and then remove
perfectly baked potato from oven and serve.

How a GM employee bakes a potato:

Instruct an Idaho potato supplier to preheat the oven to 350 F. Demand that
the supplier show you how he turned the dial to reach 350F, and have him
come up with documentation from the oven manufacturer proving that it was
calibrated properly. Review documentation, then have supplier check the
temperature using sophisticated temperature probe. Direct supplier to
insert potato and set timer for 45 minutes. Have supplier open oven to
prove potato has been installed correctly, and request a free study proving
that 45 minutes is the ideal time to bake a potato of this size.

Check potato for doneness after 10 minutes.

Check potato for doneness after 11 minutes.

Check potato for doneness after 12 minutes.

Become impatient with supplier (why is this simple potato taking so long to
bake?). Demand status reports every five minutes. Check potato for
doneness after 15 minutes... After 35 minutes, conclude that potato is
nearing completion. Congratulate supplier, and then update your boss on all
the great work you've done, despite having to work with such an
uncooperative supplier. Remove potato from oven after 40 minutes of baking,
as a cost savings; without loss of function or quality versus the original
45 minute baking time. Serve potato.

Wonder aloud what on earth those Japanese folks are doing over there to
make such good low-cost baked potatoes that people seem to like better than
GM potatoes.

Daimler Chrysler's Baked Potatoes:

Design great looking potato. Include sour cream, bacon bits, chives, and
cheese. Bean counters then create MCM system. Engineers spend 2 years
looking for ways to take out sour cream, bacon bits, chives, and cheese.
Engineers find cheap imitation chives from Japanese supplier. Management
commands engineers to use expensive, over-engineered German bacon bits to
help prop up weak German suppliers. Sell potato with cheap imitation
chives, no sour cream, cheese or expensive German bacon bits. Potato rots
so fast customer swears never to buy another DCX potato.

Ford's Baked Potatoes:

Engineers create plain looking, "everyman" potato. Sold as "green"
alternative to French Fries. When micro waved, potato explodes, causing
death and injury to customers and bringing end to 100-year potato and
butter-supplier relationship, Lawyers flourish.

No your not getting shot down for your post. I believe this is an aspect of management that should be openly studied and dialogued at the Cove.
The union and management could (If they wished) be viable partners in business yet both choose to be separate and therefore diametrically opposed to one another.
Unionism is a necessary part of the auto production industry IMO. At my location the CAW very efficiently organizes labor in a manner that management could never succeed with.
I definitely agree with the body of your post: unions do indeed have the ability and resolve to work very closely with auto management and, I furthermore believe they just have to, if the auto industry is to survive at all in any shape or format in North America.
The social/political aspect of unionism does indeed grieve me at times, when I see extreme actions taken to represent dead wood.
Wallace.

Entering the Wayback Machine (for you Bullwinkle fans) I am reminded of a quote from the very early 1980's (ladies remember it is from the 80's so please forgive the masculine references):

"...the average American CEO is a prisoner of ideology. He wants to be pure. He stills believes that labor has to be the natural, mortal enemy of the manager.

That's obsolete thinking. I want labor to understand the inner workings of the company. The old days are gone for good. Some people don't believe it, but they'll find out soon enough. America's economic future depends upon increased cooperation among government, union, and management. Only by working together can we take on the world market.

For this kind of thinking to change, you need to have reasonable men who can discuss the concept of sharing profits only when we have some to share and wage increases only when we have improved productivity. Maybe that's a concept whose time has not yet come. But it will have to come, becuase if we continue to slug it out and fight each other for a bigger piece of the pie when all the while that pie is getting smaller, the Japanese will continue to have us for lunch."

Lee Iococca

Maybe this one deserve to be a separate thread but
what do you think the union role should be in today's economy?

Am sure there are many cases of management abuses but don't you think Union has outlived its usefulness?

It would be very interesting whether CAW (canadian auto workers union) will unionize Toyota Cambrige plant and how that will affect a new plant at Woodstock?

Here's another from the GM family -

We received a PR&R for a "mis-labeled" carton. The number on the carton was correct but the bar-code read the wrong number. This raised the PR&R along with a $150 administrative fee. It should be noted that our profit on this carton was $46.

The initial problem description wasn't enough to go by so I called the customer contact listed on the PR&R. I was told that our labeler had printed the wrong bar code but it was only one label on the carton. The other label on the same carton had the right number. This made no sense at all so I asked for a photo of the carton to illustrate the nonconformity. After seeing the photo, I called back and spoke to the same contact. This time I pointed out that the shrink wrap was still covering the label in the picture and suggested the possibility that their bar code reader may have translated the wrong number because of the wrap. I was told this couldn't possibly happen as it was our label and we must have printed it wrong. After half an hour of listening to why I have to send an investigation team to their plant to resolve the issue, I asked once more that they re-check the bar-code reader. I was met with heavy resistance but finally it was agreed that they would remove the wrap and swipe the label again (by the way, the other label on the carton had already confirmed the part numbers listed on the box and bill of lading were correct). Two hours later I got an email stating the PR&R had been canceled. Everything settled right? Not so fast.

Our accounting department brought me a charge-back for $150 and asked what the status of the PR&R was. I called the customer and after some digging they confirmed the PR&R was indeed canceled but the administrative charge still applied. After all, they said, look how much admin work they had to do on it so far. I, as the supplier, shouldn't expect our customers to do our quality work for us.

I wish I had read this thread before the above happened. If I had known, I could have had GM finance the $104 loss and kept the whole thing in the family.

Dave

Great Story...Can I use it? :agree1:
Of course you can use it sir, it is not mine, I only borrowed it.

I won’t even get into all the problems I saw with the union, but the general attitude was the same as it was 20 years ago – “I’m expected to make at least 400 parts on my shift, so I’ll make my 400, which should take me about 6 hours, and then I’ll read a magazine until it’s time to go home.” That was fine 20 years ago when the plant was making so much money, it had cash and man-hours to burn. Then, nobody saw any need to try to make the company more profitable.

Yes, that's the way I remember it. Before I settled into a career I was (during late 60s and early 70's) UAW,AFL-CIO,Teamster (not all at the same time of course). I was a fish out of water. I didn't fit in with the crowd. I was a mess, from one extreme to the other.

When I worked at one of the BIG 3 on the body 'gate line' (third man from start position spot welding rear deck drain (trunk section - right rear quarter-panel) and right rear tail light frame, I got proficient shortly after completing my training. Quality in my job was consistently good, my foreman was happy with me and even the 'super' gave me notice from time to time.

Then I fell from grace. I was waiting in-between cars longer than my mind could stand and I got an idea one day to start reading the newspaper between cars coming down the line. Well, that was the WRONG thing to do. My foreman showed up one day with a rubber mallet and told me he had additional work for me to do. Tap here (with your rubber mallet), here, there, here, and there too. I tried to tell him it was bull **** but he prevailed.

At another (union) factory job I had a daily quota to fill. It took about 4.5 hours to spot-weld 3x15 ft drain pans together if I had all my parts. Which I usually did, plus more (next shifts parts). You guessed it, I started doing next shifts quota after finishing mine. And got into BIG trouble for that. I had no clue as to how the system works back then. I just saw a job to do and I wanted to do it. Again, my foreman cut my flight feathers for the serious crime, but I'll never forget what he said to me. "You are making me look bad with the foremen on the other 2 shifts. No rhyme or reason...I had made him look bad. Hmm!

Another time, I cleaned up after my own mess...and was made to feel like I had committed the crime of the century. I would call for a custodial worker when needed and wait for hours on end. Many times I would find them in the lunch room playing poker or running the football pool.

I was a union man from 1969 till 1976 and haven't had a union job since.

I know I’ll probably get flamed for this, and I’m not necessarily anti-union, but anytime the child is allowed to boss the parent around, it’s not going to turn out well.

The owner of the company I work for,will NOT be denied the right the manage as he sees fight. I worked for another employer (Mom and Pop) who said if anyone ever tried to force union workers on him, he'd close the company (even at a loss). About five years after I had moved on, he kept his word. Union tried to move in and he terminated (good paying jobs) for about 75 workers with families.

I don't know if parent/child is the best analogy in a politically correct society, but I have seen many childlike characteristics over the years on both sides of the fence.

Your union experience is on the ball and, I certainly relate in more ways than you'll ever realize.
The issue that unions have to address are diverse. The advent of ILVS (In Line Vehicle Sequencing) or build to order, has caused a working persons day to be very much scheduled with regards to input and output. Organizational production systems such as TPS (Toyota) and FPS (Ford) have introduced many elements into a working day that are measured both qualitative and quantitively. ISPC (In Station Process Control) knowledge of and education relating to processes, hidden factory and the core functions of continual improvement, have cause unions to be directly and indirectly coerced (By the very nature of business and accountability) into being an active partner with management. Unions have now unwittingly evolved into a pseudo management function, that have very little corporate clout due to their being involved functions that were formerly management.
This has worked out very well for management as, it's clear that unions and management just have to make joint and mutual decisions that are gains for the organization as a whole.
The one single factor that the ISO standards have given the blue collar worker is, the fact that management and union can be held accountable for their decisions upon the system that is made up of the majority of blue collar workers. Education has indeed played a major part in advancing blue collar workers to direct involvement in an organizational system.
Regardless of whether you are in a unionized or non-unionized working environment, direct and supported involvement in the organizational system is essential for market and job security success.
JMO, FWIW.
Wallace

GLOBAL MOTORS - Part II (by William Norman Grigg)
Wouldn’t You Rather Drive a Dragon?

Forbes reported on April 19: “China was GM’s second-largest global market last year and has been a major source of profits…in the past two years.” While U.S. sales have remained sluggish, GM sold more than 30,000 cars in Communist China during the first quarter of 2005. Since 2001, GM has spent $3.5 billion to build manufacturing plants in China. Last year it announced a deal to purchase $6 billion in Chinese-made auto parts. During the same period, it has laid off an estimated 37,500 workers in the United States.

GM was one of the first U.S. corporations to open manufacturing operations in Communist China. In 1985, the company announced a 10-year deal between its Detroit Diesel Allison subsidiary and Communist China’s state-run Qijian Gear Works to build transmissions. In 1992, GM unveiled a joint venture with China’s state-owned Jinbei Automobile Co. to build compact pickup trucks - a pact described by the Wall Street Journal as “one of the largest U.S. investments in China the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.”

Five years later, GM announced another joint venture with Jinbei to establish a light-truck plant - building mainly Chevy S-10 crew-cab pickup trucks and Blazer SUVs - in Shenyang. At the time, GM was also building a $1 billion factory in Shanghai geared to turn out as many as 100,000 Buick sedans a year. Two years later, GM, citing concerns about “overproduction,” shut down the historic Buick City assembly plant in Flint, Michigan - and then promptly announced it was opening a Buick assembly plant in Beijing.

Thanks in part to GM’s assistance, Beijing is gearing up to absorb much of the world’s automobile market. “After decades of riding global car makers’ coat-tails and churning out clunky cars few wanted, upstart Chinese firms are flexing their muscles, designing sedans that threaten to engulf world markets,” reported [I]CNN on April 16. “Now, the likes of General Motors Corp. and Toyota Corp. are getting increasingly nervous about the country’s vaunted export might, afraid that automotive history - ala Japan and South Korea - might repeat itself.” If GM is genuinely “nervous,” its corporate leadership must have the foresight of an easily distracted adolescent, since this development was an entirely predictable outcome of GM’s role in building Beijing’s industrial base.

GM has played a similar role in Russia and the nations of the former Soviet Bloc. In early April, amid quiet but building speculation about a possible round of GM cutbacks and layoffs, the company announced plans to build a $400 million engine and power drive plant in Russia. Four years ago, GM began a joint venture with Russia’s AvtoVAZ to build Russian-engineered cars, most of which sell for less than $5000 per vehicle. Forty percent of the GM/AvtoVAZ venture was underwritten by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD), which in turn draws 10 percent of its capital from U.S. taxpayers. The combine’s marquee product, the Niva sports utility vehicle, sells for about $8,000 in Russia and between $10,000-$11,000 when marketed in Western and Eastern Europe or Mexico under the Chevy brand - where they compete with better built, but more expensive, U.S. made exports.

GM began to outsource production to Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The November 8, 1990 Los Angeles Times describes an agreement between GM and Czechoslovakia’s state-owned BAZ auto company to set up a car assembly plant in Bratislava. GM, which had already established a $150 million Hungarian auto factory, was also in final negotiations with the Hungarian government to build a second one in Szentgotthard.

Buick City was the birthplace of General Motors. It was demolished in 2001, two years after the last Buick rolled off the assembly line. At the same time, GM was opening auto plants in Communist China.

Chinese workers assemble “Chevrolet” at the Jinbei GM Automotive Company in China. Much of the automotive production in China is destined for export.


Can the U.S. autoworker possibly make enough concessions to save their jobs and change the course of history-in-the-making? Is the glass container half-full / half-empty? Does it really matter if the container is half full/empty if it's got an unrepairable leak in it?

I will say I'm in Bangkok because so much automotive is moving here to Thailand. GM and Ford both have plants here as well. I may end up moving here because there's plenty of work. On the other hand, it will be quite a life style change. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it.

Ahh, following the need where the cultural mindset is receptive! :applause:

No flames from me because there's enough blame to go around, but part of the reason that the union didn't believe the no-profit cries from management was having been lied to so many times when GM was making money. It seems that the defining characteristic of management in big business in the US is that they can't be trusted to keep their word.

And why should they be trusted to keep their word, in our society, they are The Prince (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.html#CHAPTER%20XVIII)s.

(Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527): The Prince, 1513)

Muleskinner,
What do you think should be done???
Wallace.

Muleskinner,
What do you think should be done???
Wallace.

Sir WALLACE,

You have called me out. Good! I notice by your profile you are FPS Canada. OK!

U.S. (Americans - general society at large) have been asleep at the wheel far to long. Myself, included. We ignore truth and history lessons by playing 'ring around the roses', hoping that things will improve without effort or sacrifice. We have a mindset that 'we just must have it all'...and hold onto that idea until 'we loose it all'.

You ask, "What...should be done???" Well, IMO Americans should begin their own personal search of the unvarnished truth, as to what is really going on. The media certainly does NOT present the WHOLE story. The media does not hold EXCLUSIVE right to hand feed the American public what it wants them to know.

It may be to late for the American autoworker but the fact still remains that knowledge is power. Power to understand the truth, power to regain some degree of dignity and sense of destiny.

America needs to wake up from their deep 'sleeping behind the wheel' attitude. Stop thinking only of what's in it for me and to **** with everybody else.

I originally offered the start of this thread as an alternate means of gaining insight as to what is really going on in American Auto industry. Certainly, the author Wm. N. Grigg has his own agenda for writing it. Who doesn't have an agenda? Should he be the only source for information. NO! But when analyzed side by side with what the media pipes out to the public, aligned with common personal experience, a larger than life picture takes shape. They are no longer fragmented pieces of the puzzle.

What should be done? Spread the word...stop side stepping the issues...hoping the problems will solve themselves... or just go away. The problem for Americans is NOT going to just go away. We can't continue to 'sleep behind the wheel' because we are going to crash. Big time!

In '69 I worked at the 'Hazelwood Plant'. Great job! Had a really bad accident (driving my Chevy) that put me in the hospital during me probation. If I hadn't had that accident I would most likely still be working the line at the 'Hazelwood Plant'. I am sure you are aware that this plant is scheduled for closure. I'd have had enough years to GET MINE, and would remain in good shape until they start messing with pensions, but fate had different things in mind for me.

Again, people ought to seek 'unvarnished truth'. It takes time, effort and courage to swim against the crowd, but if nothing else you can at least answer for yourself and maybe a few other interested souls the question...WHY?

This post may not have been answered with eloquence, but it is offered with passion.

Muleskinner,
Excellent post. It was compiled with obvious passion, #### the eloquence: there's way too much eloquence and not enough passion with many these days, it equates to political masturbation and can only be enjoyed by the one practicing. Everything in balance though.

What do we do? :confused:
Well, I hate to say it but it's the truth, Canada has taken on the proverbial old British attitude of "We're special and we don't suffer the same ills as our brethren to the south". BAD MISTAKE.
I am of the opinion that, I won't get the chance to retire at my Ford location due to, the reality that we are (In the whole of North America) heading for a manufacturing shift of proportions that shall shock every one to their core. Everyone is going to be affected, from the great to the least advantaged.
Good points have been made regarding the high paycheck of many unionized employees. The fact of the matter is that, many unionized workers have come to a point where they have out priced themselves from the real labor market. Look at China and, what they can produce an item for in relation to the west? We are indeed in trouble; it grieves me though, when I go to a store and purchase almost everything these days and, I look at the ID tag and see the proverbial made in China logo. The scary thing is, the quality of far east produced items are getting very high marks for quality according to the western consumer measures of satisfaction.
Your posts are great Muleskinner, they are bringing a tone of well balanced reality to the Cove.
Wallace.

What do we do? :confused:
Well, I hate to say it but it's the truth, Canada has taken on the proverbial old British attitude of "We're special and we don't suffer the same ills as our brethren to the south". BAD MISTAKE.


Thanks for reminding me that 'the whole of North America is 'up ****'s creek without a paddle.


I am of the opinion that, I won't get the chance to retire at my Ford location due to, the reality that we are (In the whole of North America) heading for a manufacturing shift of proportions that shall shock every one to their core. Everyone is going to be affected, from the great to the least advantaged.

I for one, choose to NOT ignore the handwriting on the wall, and perceive that you may also be so inclined. Shrewd in management of practical affairs on the home front for the past 10 years has been my main objective.

My family is beginning to understand why 'Less is better.'



Good points have been made regarding the high paycheck of many unionized employees. The fact of the matter is that, many unionized workers have come to a point where they have out priced themselves from the real labor market.


How true! Until very recently I was totally unaware that the UAW had become so diversified. From the UAW MADE website I have found the following:

"Across the land, UAW members build cars, vans and trucks. But did you know that in a factory in Michigan, UAW members also build houses? Or that in a plant in New York, UAW members prepare and package sugar. Or that in Tennessee, UAW members build lawn mowers. Or that in Ontario, UAW members make golf clubs.

"All UAW members should look over this guide to UAW consumer products before we shop

"Every time we buy a UAW-made product, we help preserve the jobs of our brothers and sisters.

"Let's proudly proclaim that we buy what we make because when we do, we create a better tomorrow."


It's interesting that they want to "create a better tomorrow", but IMHO that's a loaded statement.


Look at China and, what they can produce an item for in relation to the west? We are indeed in trouble; it grieves me though, when I go to a store and purchase almost everything these days and, I look at the ID tag and see the proverbial made in China logo. The scary thing is, the quality of far east produced items are getting very high marks for quality according to the western consumer measures of satisfaction.


They may be getting very high marks for quality according to the western consumer measures of satisfaction, but in my opinion someone is padding the books. Unless I buy an article of clothing from a (Mom and Pop) Tailor Shop (yes there are still a few where I live), clothing I buy off the rack in reputable (ha) department stores or chain stores start to fall apart after several months wear. The only satisfaction I can get from these department/chain stores, is replacement of more of the same stuff and an apology. :bonk:

I've never :rolleyes: been hard on clothing. I was raised proper by parents who trained me well.

Here's another from the GM family -

Our accounting department brought me a charge-back for $150 and asked what the status of the PR&R was. I called the customer and after some digging they confirmed the PR&R was indeed canceled but the administrative charge still applied. After all, they said, look how much admin work they had to do on it so far. I, as the supplier, shouldn't expect our customers to do our quality work for us.

I wish I had read this thread before the above happened. If I had known, I could have had GM finance the $104 loss and kept the whole thing in the family.

Dave

Well, I guess this made perfect sense to the customer. :tg:

IMO you will yet have opportunity to get GM financing. I would imagine that 'preventive action plan' will take quite some time to implement.

Determination of root cause would surely take an indefinite period of time, and at best be inconclusive. :confused: