Vehicle sales are slow throughout the US right now, and a slumping housing market coupled with high gas prices means that trucks and SUVs are being hit extremely hard in particular. Large truck and SUV sales are down 9% through July year over year, and GM has halted overtime at six locations to help keep its large vehicle inventory under control. Workers from Flint; Oshawa, Ontario; Ft. Wayne, IN; Janesville, WI; Arlington, TX; and Silao, Mexico will need to punch out after completing eight hours work. GM wants to be sure inventories of its all-important large trucks don't get too high, which could necessitate higher incentives if available stock gets out of hand. GM looks very serious about keeping cash rebates in check, even with the possibility of a strike looming next month.
[Source: Freep]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ivey League Educated @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:09AM
SWEET! Maybe those lazy fatties at the UAW will have to pick up a shift at the quickie-mart where they belong.
rfud @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:49PM
It is now very clear that people who are educated in Ivey Leaque schools can show ignorance in public forums. I am not a UAW worker, but I know many of them, and they are good decent hard working people. Comments like yours just show that people can be educated beyond their intelligence.
h8rain @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:12AM
Wow, that is very smart on their part. Because in the past few years it seems like the American car companies forgot the golden rule of supply and demand. By slowing production maybe they won't have to offer $8,000 off the 07 Avalanche, like the 06 Avalanche (which part of that is probably to get rid of the previous gen models)
geo.stewart @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:32AM
with a strike looming, I'd kill rebates and stockpile. savings from lack of rebates, mild surplus to help ride out a strike.
makes the best of a bad thing.
too bad there have not been enough people on management and union sides asking, what's the right solution? instead of what's the most I can get out of it?
EM @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:35AM
That title is kind of misleading. I read it and thought, why are GM workers putting in OT?
Anyways. I bet the UAW will strike about this as well, claiming they aren't getting the OT they deserve, or some other logical fallacy along those lines.
Aaron @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:01AM
Basicaly this is another means nothing article.
Cutting OVERTIME is hardly the end of the world. they want to manage their inventories, but hell, the nutswingers jump on them for having too many vehicles, then jump on them for cutting out costly overtime..
You can't win... lol..
AlexP @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:46AM
I don't understand why they'd strike - they never have, not even during the previous though times (why is history repeating itself? lol). Worse that could be happening is a CAW strike, but Buzz Hargrove is FOS.
Seriously, why beat your already wounded employer when your common enemy is foreign manufacturers and their questionable business practices? This, of course especially applies to Toyota.
Sean Flanagan @ Aug 23rd 2007 9:56AM
I think this is the first time I've seen the term "questionable business practices" used to describe Toyota. What exactly is questionable? The only thing I can think of is their purchase of Fuji Heavy Industries...
Aaron @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:04AM
since when does toyota own fuji heavy industries? lol.. last I checked they own like 9% of them.
as for questionable business practices, how about carrying your engine sludge problems on millions of vehicles through courts in a messy class action lawsuit instead of manning up.. lol..
Dave @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:23AM
How about GM still claiming that DexCool doesn't cause problems on 40 million vehicles. I still can;t believe they won't admit this has been a problem for years.
AlexP @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:25AM
Not only that, but they're pulling a damn Wal-Mart when it comes to dealing with the UAW.
Barney @ Aug 24th 2007 1:06AM
"problems on millions of vehicles through courts in a messy class action lawsuit instead of manning up.. lol.."
You would think GM & Ford would have learned by now. No wonder they are going broke when they can't even admit when they screwed up. I don't think it was a sludge problem though. It was pistons with short sleeves and bad gaskets that allowed water in the cylinders. Maybe Ford will learn how to design diesels that can be made without problems, as well.
Ivey League Educated @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:28AM
Questionable business practices? You go thinking that.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope the UAW strikes. The big 2.8842656451 will hopefully can thier asses and hire the tons or people out there who wouldn't complain about getting $12-$18 an hour, you know the amount thier skillset is REALLY worth.
$40 dollars an hour to tighten bolts.. pfffffft.
AlexP @ Aug 23rd 2007 10:33AM
Isn't that illegal?
Douchebag.
Mr. Oak @ Aug 23rd 2007 11:04AM
AlexP: You're not old enough to know, but you can ask daddy. Ronald Reagan (he was a President of the United States) fired all striking air traffic controllers in the mid-eighties. So son, there is a precedent that could lead to a protracted strike like Catapillar had not so long ago.
More GM cars will be labelled Heco en Mexico, Austrailia, Korea and Europe. Only god knows what the whacky Canadians will do. They will more than likely stage a sympathy strike. Viva Mexico.
Mr. Oak @ Aug 23rd 2007 11:05AM
AlexP: You're not old enough to know, but you can ask daddy. Ronald Reagan (he was a President of the United States) fired all striking air traffic controllers in the mid-eighties. So son, there is a precedent that could lead to a protracted strike like Catapillar had not so long ago.
More GM cars will be labelled Heco en Mexico, Austrailia, Korea and Europe. Only god knows what the whacky Canadians will do. They will more than likely stage a sympathy strike. Viva Mexico.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Aug 23rd 2007 11:56AM
For those who aren't familiar with the seedy underbelly of the auto industry (esp. the UAW portion), this is a huge blow to the workers.
We all talk about how UAW workers are paid too much, and it shows in the labor costs diagrams. But most of this overpayment comes from OT. The base hourly rate of a line worker, while higher than their skill set deserves, isn't entirely unreasonable.
The reason they make so much is the amount of overtime they get. The UAW has worked to rig the rules so that employees get a ton of overtime. They rig is so that even in weeks where the employees don't work over 40 hours, they still get overtime because they worked 10 hours in one day or something. They rig it so that if a repair needs to be made to equipment, you not only need 8 people to do the repair, but 4 levels of stewards and foremen have to be there too. Sometimes, everyone on the line gets to stay at their station while the line is stopped getting paid overtime waiting for it to restart so they can restart production!
Paying no OT to these workers will cut their incomes in half for the time being. I hope they kept enough savings to cover their house payments.
motorman @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:04PM
i guess with no OT the workers will not be making $75,000 this year
MikeW @ Aug 23rd 2007 12:38PM
People aren't buying because they don't have 6 speed automatics (volume models)
Where is the 6L80 & 280mm torque converter for the 5.3 V8?
Pickups: 3.42 axle ratio for 4x2 1500, 3.73 ratio for 1500 4x4. 3.73 for 4x2 2500, 4.1 for 4x4 2500.
Ivey League Educated @ Aug 23rd 2007 1:46PM
I am having more respect for GM with moves like this no OT initiative.
I'm sure the UAW workers will cry about this but thats what they get for being so greedy and lazy. Lets also not forget how this is going to affect strippers incomes in these one-horse factory town too. =) HAHA!