GM may close 2 more plants under deal

[OhioChick]

Source: Zee News India

Detroit, Oct 01: The tentative contract between General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers would allow GM to close a plant each in Michigan and Indiana and possibly shut down several other facilities, according to a detailed copy of the agreement.

The moves are the downside of job security pledges that the UAW won in the negotiations, including commitments for new products at 16 plants. About 74,000 hourly GM workers will vote on the pact starting this week, with a final tally to be done by Oct. 10.

Gregg Shotwell, a GM worker and frequent critic of the UAW, posted most of the contract details on the Internet. He said he received the agreement from a local union official who attended a Friday meeting in Detroit. He would not identify the official, but the accuracy of its contents was confirmed for The Associated Press by a union leader who requested anonymity because members have not yet voted on the pact.

The agreement would let GM sell or close a stamping plant in Indianapolis and close an engine plant in Livonia, in suburban Detroit. According to the detailed document, called the "white book," work at the Indianapolis stamping operation will continue or be reallocated to another GM plant "until such time as the plant can be sold to an outside buyer."


Read more: http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=398305&ssid=53&ssname=Companies%20and%20Commodities&sid=BUS&sname=LATEST-BUSINESS-NEWS

[Horse with no Name]

1. I have to wonder how a union would negotiate to close plants

and lose jobs and benefits for some while saving them for others?

[Psephos]

5. One has to wonder how plants can stay open...

...when fewer than one in four of my left-of-center friends drives a car made in America. Meanwhile, the majority of my red friends drive Big Three.

GM has half the market share it had one short generation ago. The math seems straightforward to me. Less cars sold = less plants.

The UAW now understands that the fat years are over. GM pays roughly $70/hour for its assembly labor, after factoring in the net present cost of future benefits (mostly medical for retirees and families). Japanese workers cost about half that; Koreans, about a third; Chinese about a tenth.

The competition in a global economy is not between car companies as much as it is between car companies' workers.

[pacalo]

2. "Zee News *India*"...hmmpf.

Do you suppose they're salivating over the prospect of getting more American jobs?

[Sadie5]

3. The workers will probably be relocated

from the stamping plant to other facilities. This is done with GM frequently. Workers get a certain amount to relocate and it's likely that quite a few at the stamping plant have relocated more than once.

[OhioChick]

4. Most Likely. n/t

[leaninglib]

6. It's time for GM workers to demonstrate their loyalty to GM.

For it is GM that provides the jobs--not the UAW.

[uppityperson]

7. Are you serious?

GM has never shown loyalty to its workers but to its stockholders and profits.

[rmgarrette64]

8. And that's why they still have workers

<nt>

[leaninglib]

9. Yes, I am. The UAW is a relic from the last century.

Unions will be important as the 3rd world modernizes, but in advanced countries like the USA, they do more harm than good.

[superconnected]

10. If the US would impose very high import tarriffs on items not using US labor

then I would have no problem with this.

We are the worlds #1 consumer. We can determine whether workers stay her or go somewhere else.

Many countries impose high import tarrifs for this very reason.