Shreveport, LA mayor lobbies D.C. to close the HUMMER deal, already
Cedric Glover, the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, went to Washington, D.C. to plead his case for the sale of Hummer to Tengzhong. The only thing is, we're not sure why he went. To be more precise, we do know that he wants to protect jobs at GM's Shreveport plant that builds Hummers. The plant has about 800 workers who build some of The General's pickup trucks and Hummer models, and the loss of The Big H would undoubtedly put people out of work.
What we're not sure of is what he thinks Washington has to do with it. He did ask that a couple of D.C. muckety-mucks "consider reaching out to the Chinese government to urge immediate approval of the Hummer deal," but Washington hasn't expressed any opposition to the deal and probably couldn't get the deal concluded on the Chinese side any sooner -- never mind the fact that Hummer is the least of Washington's concerns as far as China goes.
We've been told by one source at Hummer that although nothing is final until it's signed, they feel good about the deal, and Tengzhong must have known what it was doing when it made the bid in the first place. Yet beyond all that, as it stands today the Shreveport plant has three years to live at most: the facility wasn't part of the Hummer sale, and GM said it would shutter the place by 2012 at the latest. Mayor Glover wants to save jobs in his town, which is great, but unless GM starts going gangbusters (and soon) then Glover could be playing the Deck Chair and Sinking Ship game.
[Source: HummerGuy]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pspmiamii 2:31PM (10/24/2009)
It seems to me, that Mr.Mayor already knows all that; the only thing is, there is one job he is indeed very concerned about: his. However ineffective, to say the least, this trip and all the noise he will be making about it will make for a lot of votes in elections to come. Politicians!.
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Judy Zik 10:35PM (10/24/2009)
Hopefully the voters there see through this. I don't know if this guy just wanted to see the Smithsonian or maybe he has family in D.C. but this is the biggest of all wasted trips. The fact that the mayor managed to spend money on it shows he is pretty out of touch when it comes to this deal and the future of this facility.
KC 3:11PM (10/24/2009)
The Chinese government had already voiced its objection to the Hummer acquisition. Therefore, the vulnerable offroader will have 99% chance to join the Pontiac and Saturn in the underworld. Greenpeace WIN!
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Almo 4:32PM (10/24/2009)
What a tool, spam your blog that no one cares about elsewhere.
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Spartan 4:35PM (10/24/2009)
I know it sucks for people to be out of work, but why not let capitalism work in this case, shut down the Hummer Brand, and let's move on already. I sympathize with those affected, but Hummer is a dead brand. We're only prolonging the inevitable.
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Derek 5:08PM (10/24/2009)
This is capitalism, someone has something (the Hummer brand) that they don't want and someone else is willing to give money for it.
Monica Dickey 5:15PM (10/24/2009)
Somewhere out there, someone still thinks Hummer is worth a good chunk of change... No reason not to let them pay it! Now that's capitalism.
Tohe 9:28PM (10/24/2009)
Perhaps the major wants to save Hummer 'cause that is the only truck he can possibly fit in.
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farmer0904 7:41AM (10/25/2009)
I don't care what anyone else says , I think its great that this mayor went to dc to try and save jobs at this plant though I am not sure how going to dc worked into that, just as long as he whole heartily had the true intentions of saving jobs ! We need to keep all our manufacture jobs here in the USA because charity starts at home! I don't care if its Ford, GM, Hyundai, Honda or toyota, etc as long as their providing good manufacture jobs , I own a 2007 Hyundai Sonata that was built here in the USA and the car is top Quality. As far as the UAW I think there is a fine line between over paid labor and slavery labor so ifs having jobs here in the USA means we need to kill the UAW I would be for that as long as decent living wages were still in the works ! We can make competitive Top Quality cars here and not bankrupt a automaker as the Hyundai Sonata and Santa fe shows ! I hope the ones buying Hummer studies Hyundai manufacture plant here and will see the benefits of keeping Hummer production here in the usa
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tetrong 2:33PM (10/26/2009)
Can someone explain why we dumped billions of dollars of taxpayer money into GM and now they're wanting to sell this valuable brand for nothing?
Why can't the image of Hummer just be updated? Make it synonymous with people who love the outdoors like Jeeps and make it an environmentally progressive brand.
I saw a story in "Wired" about a guy who was making 100mpg Hummers for Schwarzennegger.
Make a light-weight but strong Hummer with a natural gas turbine generator onboard, regenerative braking, solar panels, etc...I'd buy one.
Could be the ultimate DIY geek platform.
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