jeffrockit
Senior Member
- Nov 16, 2008
- 1,341
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The US Auto industry needs to downsize and get more efficient. Keeping open plants you don't need will not save the auto industry. Too many brands putting out the exact same product. They were just competing with themselves
Need to move to new technologies. Alternate fuels, lighter weight materials, better safety are all areas we could lead the world in.
Rehashing 60s muscle cars is not the wave of the future
One of the bigger things GM did was to stand up to the unions and reign them in:
A new collective bargaining agreement between GM and the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) has allowed GM to remain competitive against non-union companies like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda.
The old agreement mandated that GM pay new workers a hefty $28 per hour, twice what the non-union companies paid. Now, GM pay is competitive at $14 per hour for new hires.
Hanging focuses the mind, the GM official said of the new UAW contract, describing how the historically recalcitrant union realized its previous demands were unsustainable after GMs 2009 bankruptcy. They got religion, he said.
CNSNews.com - Free Enterprise -- Not Government Oversight -- Key to GM Turnaround, Say Company Officials
The other major thing GM did was tell the Govt they would not be making any business decisions:
GM officials said the government has had almost nothing at all to do with the companys rapid return to profitability. According to one GM official, who spoke to CNSNews.com on background, the government has been a silent investor, and GMs senior leadership does not seek approval or permission from the government before making business decisions.
The man responsible for the GM turnaround is new CEO Ed Whitacre. In fact, Whitacre only took the job after declining it several times on the condition that the government stay completely away from GMs business decisions. If the government tried to give Whitacre and his team orders, Whitacre promised to quit on the spot, the official told CNSNews.com.
CNSNews.com - Free Enterprise -- Not Government Oversight -- Key to GM Turnaround, Say Company Officials
No matter how it was done, it is good news for GM to be back on solid footing
But it does matter how it was done. This way was the right way by telling the unions what they had to do and not the other way around, and the same with the govt. GM made business decisions, not political decisions of which I am very happy.