How about a guest blogger for a change. This is The Queen Mother's faithful companion Pa.
I have something on my heart and mind that I need to share. I work for one of the big three automakers and have for 36 years. I have been through some very difficult times in my years with GM. The current economic environment is the toughest we have ever seen.
Our government has seen fit to aid the financial sector but is balking severely at assisting the automotive industry. We are not asking for a handout, we are asking for a LOAN. We are not asking for a loan without restriction. We are being asked to allow the government to oversee how we spend the money and if we do not meet their expectations, they have the right to recall the loan. We have agreed to this.
Has the industry made some bad decisions? Absolutely!
Have we been too generous to our employees? Sure!
Do they make as much as the talk show hosts and media are reporting? No. Those figures are misrepresented. Most of you would be amazed at what the "total cost" of your employment is reported at.
Have we been working hard to correct these issues? More than I think most of you know.
It pains me to hear about how the American auto industry has poor quality. That simply is not true. Our quality is on a par with or exceeds that of the foreign car companies. Check out the JD Power surveys.
We have been through a major restructuring over the past few years. We have renegotiated a difficult contract with the UAW who made concessions because they knew it was for the survival of the corporation. They have also agreed to reopen the current contract. We have reduced employment levels through attrition, retirement packages, and even the dreaded "involuntary separation" (spelled fired). We are requiring our suppliers to reduce costs and improve quality. We are closing manufacturing facilities to reduce excess capacity. We have changed our model mix to reflect what the current demand is requiring. By the way, we were not the only car company building full size trucks or SUV's. The Armada SUV and the Titan pick up for example.
We have been an industry leader in technology and alternative fuels. Flex fuels, hybrids, even the EV-1 (yes that's right an electric vehicle). I guess we were at fault for being ahead of our time.
For some reason we have become the whipping boy of Congress and the media. There are (in my opinion) no longer any true news reporters, only news comentators. We cannot receive the news in an unbiased manor. This true of both liberal and conservative news stations. Polls are fashioned to show what the media wants them to show. For example: Ther are two different options to show support for the loan but ony one to support not giving it. Split the numbers and make it look even more biased.
This could go on, but I need to get ready to go to work (which is a privelege I do not take lightly).
What I am asking is for your consideration about the necessity of this loan.
Thank You for your time and patience. I will try to answer any questions this might generate.
Daisypath Anniversary tickers
Grammy
About Me
- Queen Mother
- I was born and raised in a steel town. My parents, as Grandma put it, were babies having babies, so we grew up together. My parents were dirt poor, so an aunt said. It wasn't until their 50th wedding anniversary that I found out she was right. There are 10 children in my father's family, 5 boys, 5 girls. There are 8 children in my mother's family, 4 girls, 4 boys. The odds of another couple with those nunbers has to be high as winning a lottery. I have twin brothers, a baby brother and a sister. We fussed and fought our way into adulthood, having some goodtimes along the way. Thirty nine years ago I met a boy who would become my best friend and then my husband. He likes to tell people that it's not a marriage it's an adventure, and that is what it is. He has two siblings and was raised in a much more quite house then I was. We have 3 children, the in-laws to go with them and grandchild (our reward for the hard times) Art the Omnipotent along with her three rapscallions, have joined in on the fun of our family. These additions have added lots of color to the tapestry of our life.
9 comments:
I agree.
The particular brand for whom you work is definitely a great product. In fact, I think they were even better before GM started interfering with them again. Now, I'm still a Toyota fan (of some of their models), and I admit to having a love affair with old VW's that don't require a trip to the dealer every time something goes wrong, but I hope you won't disown me for that.
The one thing I think would be awesome for ALL car companies to adopt would be to take a trip back down memory lane in a sense. While they are busy designing cars that act as good stewards of our environment, it would also be totally awesome if they would go back to making cars not so computer dependent. In other words, it would be great if they could make new cars able to be worked on by your average mechanically inclined human who has a decent set of tools. When everything is computer generated and codes are needed to diagnose a problem, that means a trip to the dealer, and that means that couples like Henry David and me get hurt more than helped. And when some companies (the new VW is a bad culprit here) require special tools just to take off a tire or another average self-repair job, that also creates issues that hurt the consumer who isn't loaded with money. If I could share that with the powers who design cars these days, that would be awesome. But for now, we are going to keep our 1992 and 1993 VW's going as long as possible, primarily because we can't afford it any other way right now.
Inkling,
I understand the frustration of trying to work on a vehicle and not having the right tools for the job. That is common across the industry.
In regards to your desire for cars that are good stweards of th environment as well as less computer dependent. You cannot have one without the other. The computer technology is what helps make these vehicles more efficient and therefore better for the environment. The engine is constantly making internal adjustments to allow the engine to run cleaner. Ther are sensors throughout the vehicle that test the air coming in, the exhaust gasses going out, the external temperatures and the internal engine temperatures. These readings are then sent to the engine control module which interprets these readings and makes the proper adjustments to allow the car to run cleaner and more economically. I hope this clears some things up for you. You are not disowned, I just do not agree with your preference in cars.
Take care of yourself, Henry David, and grasshopper.
Pa
Pa:
I would be interested in knowing why the current workers and retirees are not more willing to make concessions in pay.
One of the big expenses is payroll and benefits. The current worker expense is large due to the fact of the health insurance, pension and the retirees.
For the company ro be successful, they need to spend less and this is an area where they can cut.
If they all want to see the company succeede, why would they not be willing to take a couple dollars an hour pay cut or be willing to pay X as part of a co-pay.
If they do not make the concessions and do not get Paulson or Bush to bail them out, ... then they may lose everything.
I would think that the two million+ workers involved would like to have a little decrease then to lose everything.
Maybe the UAW workers should go an interview the former steelworkers that have lost most of their pensions and all of their health benefits.
I have given a lot of consideration about the loan and the pros and cons of it.
Right now, I am not sure if the loan is the right thing to do. I do not think that the leadership (top) of the Big 3 are being wise leaders and I definitely think that the Prez of UAW needs to get his head out of the sand.
Him and the leaders (imo) do not really have the interest of the worker and retiree in mind.
I could go on, but I will stop and quit hijacking this thread.
JP
JP
I believe that Mr Gettlefinger said that the UAW was willing to return to the bargaining table. The retirees and current employees health care has already been a part of contract negotiations.
You seem ti think that pay cuts ans benefit reductions would fix this issue. That is not the case. If every UAW worker came to work for the next month and was not payed at all ($0) it would not correct the condition the auto copmpanies are in.
Before you get the wrong idea, you are not listening to a union member defending his leadership.
GM has worked hard to position themselves for success, but there can be no success when there is no credit for people to buy cars and create cash flow for the company. This may be a case of too little too late, but do not believe that GM has done nothing to try to avert this potential disaster. I have talked to workers on the floor and they are willing to consider all avenues to get through this crisis.
My father is a 42 year veteran of GM. He worked hard for his pension and endured difficult working conditions so that all of us could enjoy better working conditions, regardless of the industry. Their dillignece has made the work environment what it is in this country today. Health and safety were not considered by employers years ago.
I hope this has answered some of your concerns, but it seems we may have to agree to disagree.
Pa
PA:
I am sorry that you feel like we have to agree to disagree after one dialogue back and forth.
I feel that you can learn more when you listen to view-points that are different from yours and if you are open, you might change.
The you is not necessarily you - it may be me. I may not be thinking of it from the angle that you have.
The one thing that I do need help understanding though is your comment on how lowering pay and benefits would not help.
If the current 300,000 workers would take a 10% paycut, the company would save approx. 1.8 Billion dollars. If the retirees did the same thing, it would be close to 5 billion dollars.
If these numbers are represented in a loan request, it would be more reliable that the company would be able to pay back the loan.
As you mentioned in the comment, it was very important for the banks to be secured so money can be freed for them to buy. However in the original post, you were alittle "hesitant" on them getting the money.
Maybe, the goverment needs to focus on the citizens instead of the GM. If we (buyers) were given the ability for rebates, down-payments, etc ... then maybe we can buy. By us buying, GM will have more revenue.
However, I think the the GM situation is a great microcosim of SS.
GM's retiree ration vs. current worker is obviously too heavy and they cannot support it.
You are correct that the pay-cut would not fix/help their current dire need BUT if they would have done this 5-10 years ago, GM would be in a much better situation.
The leaders of the company have unfortunately made bad decissions and now they want us/government to bail them out.
I will stop.
JP
JP
I apologize for the delay in responding to your last comment. There has been much going on in our life this past week.
I cannot argue with your statement that the leaders of the “big three” have made bad decisions in the past. We obviously would be in better shape today if we had negotiated lower wages and benefits 10 years ago. We would also not be in this credit crunch if the government and the banks and credit card companies had made better decisions 10 years ago. Social security would not be in the precarious position it’s in if the government would have raised taxes 10 years ago. I wish we had all made better decisions in the past.
I believe that Mr. Gettlefinger was willing to come to the table and negotiate, but he was hesitant to agree to the “drop dead” date required by congress. I believe that is in part due to the fact that each time the automotive leaders agreed to one of congress’ demands, another came out. We were trying to hit a moving target. Where will it stop? As in any negotiation, there needs to be commitment from both sides. It seemed that each time we agreed to another demand it only generated more. At one point there was an agreement in principle until Mr. Corker went in and spoke to the caucus.
I dislike the term bailout. What we have asked for is a loan that we are required to pay back. We have been required to account for the money continuously. The banks were given a sum of money in hopes that it would fix the credit crisis. There was no accountability for how the money was spent. Congress was embarrassed and now is trying to overcompensate by being hard line with the automakers.
I do not think that providing money to consumers in the form of rebates and down payments would help much. The need is for the financial arena to make loans available again, not just a price reduction.
One question, what was the timeframe for the calculated savings you estimated from the 10% pay cut?
I need to move on to other things. Have a good day.
Pa
Pa:
Looks like the loan is there:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Business/story?id=6494698&page=1
just broke minutes ago
JP
JP
Thanks for the news. It was the first time I heard. Checked the blog before looking at the news or anything else.
Now the work begins. This is not the end of a journey, it is the beginning of a new GM. All this has done is accellerate the restructuring and revitalizing of a company posied for the next 100 years.
Much more to come
Pa
Post a Comment