Here's a few articles on the auto industry and GM in particular. Of course the Right will blame the unions, but they refuse to acknowledge healthcare, personal debt and lower pay are hurting the economy and the ability to keep our industries here and growing.
Some also argue that we don't need manufacturing...... well to that I say where are the jobs then? McDonald's? Burger King? Walmart?
If we sit and continue to point fingers and we do nothing to improve healthcare costs, wages and debt (and the GOP seems to want to point fingers and not do anything), we WILL be a country where we will have the very rich and everyone else will be poor.
We need to increase minimum wage, get universal healthcare or regulate the industry, raise tarriffs, get localities and companies to trade tax abatements for guaranteed jobs and so on.
The GOP refuses to do anything but continue to give the rich tax cuts????? Have they helped in the past 5 years?
No, healthcare continues to raise exponentially (yet they can put aside billions for illegals healthcare), fuel costs skyrocket, wages and benefits continue to fall.
Companies like GM and Ford are desperately trying to stay alive. (The GOP, who preach being honorable, want companies to cut retirees benefits (mainly healthcare) PROMISED to them or go bankrupt...... and still refuse to do anything to get healthcare under control.
If anyone believes the people won't truly revolt then they don't know human spirit. You can take only so much away from people before they strike out. Already crime rates are increasing, drug abuse is skyrocketing, poverty is increasing and the GOP keeps saying how great things are as more GM closes plants and lays off 25,000 is saying paycuts and loss of benefits are coming, Ford will follow suit.
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LINK:
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...08/117873.html
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GM to Close Plants Cut 25,000 Jobs
WILMINGTON, Del. June 8, 2005; Brad Dorfman writing for Reuters reported that General Motors Corp. expects to close more U.S. assembly and component plants over the next few years, slashing at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs as it battles high costs and shrinking market share, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.
Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, addressing shareholders at a contentious annual meeting, said GM expects to save $2.5 billion a year from the cost-cutting measures.
GM, the world's largest automaker, lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter and is riding out its worst financial crisis in more than a decade. It has been closing and idling plants over the past four years and will have cut its annual North American assembly capacity from six million vehicles in 2002 to five million by the end of this year.
A benchmark annual report on North American manufacturing operations released last week ranked GM dead last among leading automakers in assembly plant capacity utilization.
"We need to get to 100 percent capacity utilization or better," Wagoner said. A plant can get above 100 percent capacity utilization when overtime is factored in.
Wagoner said at least 25,000 U.S. jobs would likely be cut in the period 2005-2008, from an hourly work force that stood at 111,000 at the end of 2004.
His warning of plant closings and headcount reductions seemed to suggest an aggressive strategy for turning around an icon of industrial America, and investors welcomed the news, sending GM shares up as much as 2.4 percent.
But analyst Michael Bruynesteyn of Prudential Equity Group said eliminating 25,000 or more hourly jobs through 2008 would only be in line with the normal 5 percent annual retirement or attrition rate at GM.
"These plans are not surprising given market share losses and efficiency gains but we do not think they should be viewed as a new strategy," added Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Barry.
"If market share continues to fall over time, as we expect, then GM is really just treading water with such actions, not boosting profitability."
Wagoner said GM had been in intense discussions with the United Auto Workers union about ways to reduce the company's massive health-care costs. But he said it was not certain an agreement would be reached.
Wagoner stressed the company, whose debt was cut to high-yield, or "junk," status last month, had to cut costs promptly.
UNION REACTION
A senior UAW official suggested Wagoner was unlikely to win any major concessions from the union under its current labor contract, however. The contract expires in September 2007.
"It's one thing to present in a speech specific targets for job reductions and closing plants by the end of 2008; in reality, various important factors will come into play," Richard Shoemaker, the UAW vice president in charge of union affairs with GM, said in a statement.
"The UAW is not convinced that GM can simply shrink its way out of its current problems," he said.
Shoemaker said the union was doing its part "to help GM meet the challenges of today's fiercely competitive auto industry." But he added: "We will do all that is possible to protect the interests of our members and their families."
The GM job cut announcement was the biggest in the United States since Kmart unveiled plans to cut 37,000 jobs in January 2003, according to John Challenger of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc.
"This may not be the last major job cut announcement we see this year as other companies, including other American automakers, struggle to make a profit amid escalating health-care costs, not to mention the cost of providing ongoing health benefits to growing ranks of retirees," Challenger said in a statement.
GM expects to spend $5.6 billion on employee and retiree health care this year, and cited that burden when it recently withdrew its earnings guidance for 2005.
GM executives have argued that hourly union workers should pay the same out-of-pocket medical expenses as the company's white-collar, salaried workers. That would save GM as much as $1 billion a year, including the cost of medical care for hourly retirees, according to Sean McAlinden, an economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Wagoner declined to give specific details about plant closings and job cuts during the two hour, 20-minute meeting, where he faced investor discontent and at least one call for his resignation.
"We're going broke. It's time for a change," said Jim Dollinger, a long-time Buick salesman.
Wagoner also declined to say what steps GM's board might take if billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is successful in his $31-a-share tender offer for 4.95 percent of the company. The offer by Kerkorian, who already owns 3.89 percent of GM's stock, expired on Tuesday.
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LINK:
http://www.autoblog.com/entry/1234000863045967/
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GM’s turnaround plan includes more imported parts
Posted Jun 8, 2005, 3:46 PM ET by Eric Bryant
Somewhat lost in the (justified) fervor surrounding Rick Wagoner’s announcement of job cuts was another component of the dreaded “cost reduction” pillar. Wagoner said was “the emergence of excellent supply capability in lower cost markets provide[s] us with some real cost savings opportunities”, and stated that GM will be “restructuring [our] purchasing model.” Translated to English, this means that North American suppliers can soon expect to watch as their business moves to low-labor-cost markets such as China. Considering that GM purchases somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 billion in parts annually, it’s easy to see that the loss of even a small percentage of that work will have drastic effects; effects that are perhaps more significant than the planned direct-labor cuts. Things may get especially tough in the Midwest where the Big Three still enjoy relative popularity due to a Buy American attitude, and where automotive component suppliers form the foundation of local economies. It might be difficult for many buyers to convince themselves that purchasing a GM vehicle is best for their financial well-being when GM moves more work off-shore as the “transplant” OEMs such as Honda, Toyota, and even Hyundai continue to increase their domestic content.
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LINK:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...toyota_us_dc_8
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Toyota boss fears backlash if GM, Ford crumble Wed Jun 8, 2:21 PM ET
OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) - The outspoken chairman of Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday he feared the possibility that U.S. policy could turn against Japanese auto makers if local giants such as GM and Ford were to collapse.
"Many people say the car industry wouldn't revisit the kind of trade friction we saw in the past because Japanese auto makers are increasing local production in the United States, but I don't think it's that simple," Hiroshi Okuda told a news conference.
"General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are symbols of U.S. industry, and if they were to crumble it could fan nationalistic sentiment. I always have a fear that that in turn could manifest itself in policy decisions," he said, speaking as the head of the nation's biggest business lobby, the Japan Business Federation.
Okuda, who as chairman is removed from the auto maker's day-to-day operations, raised eyebrows and invited criticism on both sides of the Pacific when he said two months ago that Toyota should think about ways in which it could aid U.S. auto makers -- such as by raising product prices -- as they reel under massive health-care costs and sliding sales.
In the latest sign of tough times at Detroit's Big Two, GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner told shareholders on Tuesday of plans to cut at least 25,000 manufacturing jobs and close more U.S. assembly and component plants over the next few years.
Both GM and Ford have been cutting back output as they lose sales to Asian brands led by Toyota, which now controls 13.4 percent of the U.S. car market, the world's biggest.
Asked what he thought of GM's latest restructuring plan, Okuda said: "If you think about GM's current output volume and vehicle lineup, laying off 25,000 to 30,000 employees is inevitable."
GM, the world's biggest auto maker followed by Toyota, lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter and is riding out its worst financial crisis in more than a decade. It has been closing and idling plants over the past four years and will have cut its annual North American assembly capacity to 5 million vehicles by the end of this year from 6 million in 2002.
Meanwhile, top Japanese auto makers are adding jobs and assembly lines in North America to meet growing demand there, prompting executives, including Toyota President Fujio Cho, to dismiss concerns that their success would reignite a political backlash.