Boycott Mexican Built GM
- Thread starter joesregalproject
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The point is, GM is closing five plants and cutting thousands of American and Canadian jobs and eliminating them or sending them out of the country. Jobs are jobs regardless of where the parts come from.
Two of those plants are Warren Powertrain and Baltimore Operations; it's not just assembly plants being affected.
Ford and Chrysler have done the same thing in the past.
The only way to truly boycott auto manufacturers moving production out of the country would be to give up driving and walk everywhere.
The UAW didn't design ugly pieces of crap, but it did charge more than necessary to put them together.
Drive your G erryday!
I am sick of hearing about corporate greed that never ends ! And just not GM either , these bunch of blood sucking suite and tie dirt bags would have 12 year old,s working 16 hr shift,s assembling car,s if they thought they could get away with it ! ! ! These gutless pathetic yes men would do anything to appease there board members , instead of saying [ we have reached a point in the manufacturing process ] that does not allow us to cut any further cost and be able to pay a living decent wage to our labor force . There for we suggest you start installing those camera.s that management love,s so much , in each office cubical so we can look there for some cost savings ! I am sure the personnel dept would agree we need to look at all aspects of cost saving ! And not just the low and mid level management either , all the way to the top ! And then at the annual board meeting i would bet the conversation would be much different ! I would have those camera.s pointed at every computer screen for 8 hrs a day and every body better damn well be doing company business on them to ! This would go for management too ! What the hell are you doing all day !!! Lets see after your 8 hr shift what the hell you produced , or at the very least what task did you accomplish today . Lets start paying these people for what they do !! I guarantee you i could cut some cost quickly !!!
Couldn't agree more, Its ironic that in the video that the OP linked to......its a union boss that's complaining about the jobs leaving. Does he realize that the existence of his union is one of the contributing factors to the plant closing?
Yep.....aside from putting a few miles on a winter fwd beater......its nothing but Gbodies and square bodies for me from here on out....
When these Unionized GM plants are closed, a lot of satellite plants aka suppliers also go down. Many of these don't have the safety nets of the GM plants. While I completely disagree with Mary Barra's decision on these closings, especially with the local Lordstown plant. The small companies workers are really getting the brunt of these closings. The local mall gave gift certificates to only GM workers, as did eateries, skate zone, bowling, etc. Mary Barra, she was on a short list for VP, waited after the elections before announcing this decision. A year ago the Lordstown plant was at 3 shifts, then the cut to one shift with overtime. They are working 6 days currently. The seating company was at 300 workers a year ago. I would guess there are probably 6 satellite jobs for every one GM Job so the closing of this or any GM plant really hurts an area. I started working in a large steel mill in 1968. Great jobs were every where. GM Lordstown 10,000 workers, Packard/Delphi 14,000 workers, 5 major Steel companies 80,000 workers, pretty much all gone or soon to be.
One could actually quit a good paying job and start another the next day. These were Union jobs. Speed shops and the five local dragstrips were booming. I can't ever remembering worryingly about a price for a speed part. Ahhh the good old days when we didn't have school snow days but that's another story.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news...ounces-120-layoffs-in-nearby-warren?_amp=true
One could actually quit a good paying job and start another the next day. These were Union jobs. Speed shops and the five local dragstrips were booming. I can't ever remembering worryingly about a price for a speed part. Ahhh the good old days when we didn't have school snow days but that's another story.
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news...ounces-120-layoffs-in-nearby-warren?_amp=true
This is where I feel conflicted. I know the UAW has itself to blame for plants closing. We had the same thing happen in Pittsburgh over the second half of the last century. We used to have steel mills galore, Dravo built ships and barges here, Allis Chalmers had a huge plant here. Now sure, in the early days workers weren't paid fairly and weren't working in safe conditions, and their strikes were justified. But eventually they just became greedy. They were making more money than they deserved and had unbelievable amounts of benefits and vacation time, I remember my dad telling me Dravo workers had something like 7 weeks of paid vacation time. The companies eventually couldn't afford to employ people here and they left.
But at the same time I hate seeing what happens to these towns and the people there after these manufacturing plants leave. Immediately Flint comes to mind, and Detroit is somewhat of a poster child for it. Cleveland is another. Pittsburgh has done okay in the Ed & Med industry but it's not what it was when steel was big. Just look at the population numbers over the last 60 or 70 years.
Another aspect of this to think about is once these big plants leave, they usually leave mess of pollution behind which can make redevelopment of those sites extremely expensive and difficult, not to mention any health effects. The Flint River is a good example. The Monongahela River in Pittsburgh is another, and Pittsburgh's air quality, while much better than it was when all the mills were here, is still among the worst in the nation. The Hudson River is still filled with PCBs from GE decades ago. The Carter Color Coat site in Detroit is just one more example.
I'm not agreeing with one side or the other, I think there is wrong and right in both sides. I'm simply stating that while I do think the UAW is largely at fault, I sympathize with the towns and people affected by the plant closures. And in any case I hate seeing American jobs being sent to foreign countries.
But at the same time I hate seeing what happens to these towns and the people there after these manufacturing plants leave. Immediately Flint comes to mind, and Detroit is somewhat of a poster child for it. Cleveland is another. Pittsburgh has done okay in the Ed & Med industry but it's not what it was when steel was big. Just look at the population numbers over the last 60 or 70 years.
Another aspect of this to think about is once these big plants leave, they usually leave mess of pollution behind which can make redevelopment of those sites extremely expensive and difficult, not to mention any health effects. The Flint River is a good example. The Monongahela River in Pittsburgh is another, and Pittsburgh's air quality, while much better than it was when all the mills were here, is still among the worst in the nation. The Hudson River is still filled with PCBs from GE decades ago. The Carter Color Coat site in Detroit is just one more example.
I'm not agreeing with one side or the other, I think there is wrong and right in both sides. I'm simply stating that while I do think the UAW is largely at fault, I sympathize with the towns and people affected by the plant closures. And in any case I hate seeing American jobs being sent to foreign countries.
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I toured the Vette plant in Bowling Green about 10-12 years ago (the XLR was still in production). I've been in a union job for 20 years now, and I couldn't believe the (lack of) skill to pay ratio. Those shouldn't be $25-40/hr jobs for what they need to know. I mean, come on, wrenches are pretorqued, parts are on jigs and/or cranes, and on and on...... Put the part on; put the fastener in the hole- not exactly rocket science. I actually feel like I could be paid more for what I know; not so much as what I do. However, corporate greed prevails.
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