Buzz Hargrove will step down early
Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada's largest in the private sector, will step down earlier than anticipated. Hargrove wasn't expected to retire until he reached the CAW's mandatory age of 65 next year. It's tough to resist the allure of cuddling with Yorkies, Bingo every Monday night, and shuffleboard to fill in those long, wistful hours recalling the glory days of torquing valve covers in Windsor, so Hargrove has accelerated his departure to mid-September. No replacement candidate has been named yet, though an endorsee will be announced later today. Come this fall, keep an eye out on the golf courses of Florida for a relaxed looking guy drinking a Molson, eh? [Source: Automotive News – Sub Req, Photo: media.canada.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
geo.stewart 4:39PM (7/08/2008)
a ne'er-do-well that has made millions off the backs of union workers.
goodbye and good riddance. if they would only do away with the union next...
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knifetramp 5:16PM (7/08/2008)
+1 Couldn't have said it better.
Volk 9:09PM (7/08/2008)
Not only that - along the way he has greatly contributed to the demise of NA auto manufacturing.
geo.stewart 9:48PM (7/08/2008)
if I can top myself:
a blight on the pimple on the hemmorhoid of the butthole of the auto industry.
LOL
Buzz Hargrove 4:49PM (7/08/2008)
Thank you for coming today.
I retire with feeling of "The Job Well Done". In my very productive career I continued that fine tradition of slowly strangling N.American automakers. Thanks to our our inexhaustible efforts (and partially government regulations) there will be no or very little auto manufacturing sector presence in Canada.
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Kitko 4:56PM (7/08/2008)
There will be - it will be made by companies such as Toyota or Honda who had more sense and diversified their portofolio. The Big 2.8 made only trucks, SUV and MPV cars in Canada for years. These are gone. Small cars has dominated Canadian sales for years and CAW should have pressed Big 2.8 to diversify.
If Honda can manufacture Civic and Ridgeline on a same assembly line and shif production at will and/or as market demands, why GM can't?
Dude 5:04PM (7/08/2008)
@Kitko
The Camaro and Firebird would like to have a word with you
why not the LS2LS7? 5:34PM (7/08/2008)
GM has plenty of plants making more than one car at a time. I have no idea what you're talking about.
No, they can't make their trucks and Cobalts on the same line since GM's trucks aren't unibody, unlike the Ridgeline.
B_O_T 4:56PM (7/08/2008)
Good riddiance.
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why not the LS2LS7? 5:01PM (7/08/2008)
He was awfully obstinate. I think that perhaps some new blood who wants to work with GM to make manufacturing work instead of against GM could make a difference for the UAW constituents.
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azzo45 5:04PM (7/08/2008)
Get that Golden parachute while ya can Buzz! Union dues well spent... yeah right! :(
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Jared 6:15PM (7/08/2008)
Good riddance.
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ken_aisin 6:36PM (7/08/2008)
The Ontario provincial government should stop supporting lying companies like GM who came to an agreement with the union workers, then turns around to kill a truck plant the next week.
To the Canadian auto industry workers: quit the union, and work for better companies like Toyota and Honda. They take good care of their workers by providing better salaries and benefits.
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why not the LS2LS7? 10:40PM (7/08/2008)
You think Toyota and Honda haven't cut back on truck production? Then Honda must be sitting on a lot of Pilots because sales are down 21% year over year, despite it being refreshed this year.
If trucks were needed, GM would be making them in those plants. But GM cannot afford to make vehicles that simply won't sell. No company can.
ken_aisin 12:40AM (7/09/2008)
Yeah, Toyota and Honda's truck sales are down, but I don't see them closing down any of their Canadian plants.
In fact, I never see Toyota and Honda workers demonstrating on the street like the GM workers.
why not the LS2LS7? 1:50AM (7/09/2008)
Honda moved their Ridgeline production out of Canada.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/03/12/hondaridgeline.html
They are building something else there now, which is an advantage Honda enjoys since they are one of only a few companies whose sales didn't go down drastically so far this year. A select group that doesn't even include Toyota.
johneboy 8:37PM (7/09/2008)
Seems like you want the union gone. Once it is gone, Honda and Toyota will tell its workers that they will make $14/hr. No negotiations. Just take it or leave it. So tell me again, why am I quitting my job with one of the big 3 to go work at Honda or Toyota?
ken_aisin 10:18PM (7/09/2008)
There isn't a need for a union if the workers are satisfied with the company that they are working for. Toyota's workers are not unionized, but I never see them protesting outside the Toyota headquarter. Why's that? Toyota pays good salary and provide good benefits.
On the other hand, GM workers are unionized, but they don't get what they want from GM, and have to set up a blockade in front of the GM headquarter for days until the judge ordered them to leave.
johneboy 5:39PM (7/10/2008)
GM lied and bargained in bad faith. They accepted government money and worker concessions for product allocation, then they announced the plant closure two weeks after signing the contract. So tell me again why the union shouldn't protest and why GM workers don't need the union? I'll repeat it again, if the union is gone at the Big 3, Honda and Toyota will tell it's workers they are making $14/hr. The only reason they make close to CAW money is to keep the union out. No union to fear and just wait for the announcement.
davido 8:21PM (7/08/2008)
Interesting isn't it. Virtually every workplace safety rule, wages and hours law, overtime, paid vacation, pensions, overtime pay, and the very idea of a work week of less than seven days/fourteen hours a day came about as the result of union activity at some point.
So now some of us who aren't unionized have the leisure time to think about much we hate unions along with the income to buy computers and talk about it publicly.
But hey, except for first world countries, most places on the planet have never seen union activity. So if you work too little, get paid too much and have far too much time off to enjoy your money and your toys, there are plenty of places where you can go and not have any of those things.
Then you'll be like most people on the planet.
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