GM vote means plant will close its doors

[The Northerner]

Turned down by union workers on Monday, Illinois businessman Justin Norman won't come back with a sweeter bid to buy GM's huge Indianapolis metal plant.

"We are withdrawing from pursuing the plant any further," JD Norman Industries announced after autoworkers voted 457-96 against a concession contract that would have cleared the way for Norman to buy the plant and cut wages by nearly half.

Although the vote marks a victory for defiant leaders of United Auto Workers Local 23 trying to resist wage cuts, it brings a quick end to attempts to spare the old riverside landmark from a shutdown that will widen the hole in the city's industrial tax base.

Some workers apparently thought the Chicago-area manufacturer might respond with an offer for higher wages later this fall if the proposal for a pay cut of almost 50 percent was rejected on Monday, said Maurice "Mo" Davison, executive director of UAW Region 3.

But the entrepreneur left no doubt he decided to walk away, Davison said, noting Norman told him Monday afternoon that his "negotiations are done" with GM and the UAW.

Read more: http://www.indystar.com/article/20100927/BUSINESS/9270390/UAW-turned-down-contract-to-retain-GM-plant

[Hannah Bell]

1. And the workers who took the vote already knew that. Mo Davidson is lying through his teeth,

like he lied the whole way through the process, like he lied when he forced a second vote behind the backs of the members.

[Sherman A1]

5. Precisely

He was going to screw the workers one way or another.

[littlewolf]

2. and sooo people are going to lose their jobs ...

[Luminous Animal]

3. THE WORKERS voted. It was a democratic decision to throw this race to the bottom

asshole to the curb. It was their decision to suffer the consequences.

[Hannah Bell]

6. um, no, most of them aren't. and the vote was 83% in favor of not cutting their wages in half

so gm could screw them out of retirement pay, & screw workers in other plants out of work, not sure why you care.

& if the permatemps lose their jobs, not too hard to find a $14/hr unbenefited job doing lawn work.

[jtuck004]

4. They should put the money together and buy the damn thing,

employ themselves. Make their own decisions and profits. It's been done.

It may be that some people who want to survive best in the world to be will be better off doing that. It is an option if
they can convince an invetor(s) or bank that this is a viable business, and if they want to put some of their own money in.

But good for them, standing on what they believe. You let principles go too easy, then who knows what you are for.