After slipping into receivership this past January, Ssangyong Motor Company's problems have only escalated. A court-ordered restructuring of the Korean automaker earlier this year left 976 employees without work. The displaced workers organized an armed sit-in on the Korean automaker on May 21 that has now turned violent.

According to Ward's Auto, Roughly 4,000 non-union workers and management had been back in the company's Pyongtaek, South Korea, SUV plant attempting to get the assembly line back into operation. After less than 36 hours in the facility, more than 900 pipe and firebomb-wielding strikers surrounded the area and demanded they vacate under increasing threats. As the workers left, they were attacked by striking union workers poised outside (many noted that the national police service had withdrawn their riot squad on Saturday night leaving the 4,000 employees unprotected). All told, more than 70 non-union workers were badly hurt and many of those were hospitalized.

Although the company has offered jobs with affiliated companies, or promised future work to dismissed employees, the union immediately rejected the offer and has demanded to negotiate directly with the Korean government. The future doesn't look good. With no plans for the non-union employees to return and a viable restructuring plan unlikely, the Korean courts are scheduled to make a ruling by Sept. 15 whether to allow Ssangyong Motor Co. to keep operating or to liquidate its assets.

[Source: Ward's Auto]

Sometimes deals get made, and then the dealmakers have to employ some pretty creative tactics to get the terms to work. Magna's deal for Opel included taking €1.5 billion in short term loans from the German government, the string attached being that Magna had to guarantee German jobs.

Saving jobs means selling more cars to maintain production levels, and outside observers are suggesting that Opel would need to cut prices by 40% to move enough metal to keep people on the lines. Of course, a 40% drop in prices makes profit almost impossible, and some are saying Magna doesn't care about profits right now. One analyst said Magna and GM might want to increase costs, since Magna would sell more parts and GM would get more royalties. That, however, seem like the wilder side of speculation.

Magna has said the 40% discount hypothesis is absurd. Magna's mandate was to save German jobs -- that doesn't mean other Opel or Vauxhall factories in other countries can't be shuttered. Such a discount would also bring competing automakers into the debate; they would need to fight battles both on the dealer lot and with their government lobbyists, who would question Opel's right to sell cheap cars with government assistance.

[Source: Bloomberg]

According to the Detroit Free Press, the 14 plants that General Motors is expected to announce for closure on Monday was going to be 16 plants until the UAW got its way on Capitol Hill. The union charged GM with closing factories, but instead of a commensurate reduction in production, GM was moving some of the manufacturing elsewhere, specifically China and Mexico.

GM said it will produce 1.83 million cars in the U.S. 2014 as opposed to 2 million today, and it would get one-third of its production that year from overseas. That one-third would notably be small cars, so much in play lately for every reason. The UAW suggested it would be amenable to "innovative labor agreement provisions" in order to make small car production work for GM domestically.

In that case it isn't Mexico or China that will suffer, but Canada. Our northern neighbor is expected to lose 23% of its GM export production (has anyone told CAW head Ken Lewenza yet?) while Asian importation climbs 98%.

For now, an assembly plant and a stamping plant have been spared from the initial list of U.S. closures. Another four plants have been designated "stand-by locations" that will come on line in case of a steep rebound in auto sales.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

Facing a looming June 1 deadline to reach agreements with the bondholders and union, General Motors may have failed to come to terms with the former, but it has reportedly arrived at a tentative concessions agreement with latter. The deal puts the United Auto Workers' trust fund in charge of future health care costs in exchange for a 17.5% stake in the reorganized General Motors. The U.S. Treasury is still expected to take the controlling stake in the reorganized company.

In addition, the agreement calls for GM to put $10 billion in assets in the UAW's Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) and to issue the union a $2.5 billion note to be payed in three installations in 2013, 2015, and 2017. With less than one week to go before a likely Chapter 11 bankruptcy, GM remains in survival mode.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

The numbers for the UK car industry in April point to a 50% drop in production, and factories that aren't shut down completely are being run at glacial paces. After closing its Swindon, England plant for four months, the choice Honda gave workers there fit the template of the times: take a pay cut or else 490 of you will be let go. The workers voted for the 3% drop in wages, while management gets a 5% reduction.

While everyone waits -- and prays -- for the scrappage scheme to show some results, the move keeps hundreds of people on the job. The workers will also get six extra days of leave, which could be a mixed blessing, but it's better than being out of work, which isn't.

[Source: BBC]

After two weeks of intense negotiations, General Motors Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union have reached a deal that will help the automaker cut costs, allowing it to meet the terms for additional government loans. Ken Lewenza, head of the CAW, said it was "a struggle" to reach a deal with GM, but he added that the union had done the best it could under the circumstances, saying: "we have protected most of our core benefits."

Wages, pensions and most benefits were preserved, although restructured in some instances. The union's pension rates will be frozen until 2015, for instance. The deal also keeps GM's plants in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock open for the foreseeable future. In total, it is believed that the new deal will result in $15 to $16 hourly wage savings on average. The announcement comes a day after the UAW reached a deal of its own with GM.

Although a different agreement was signed with the CAW in March, it had been rejected by the provincial and federal governments who wanted more cost-cutting to avoid bankruptcy. Although GM now appears to be heading in the same direction as Chrysler, hopefully there will be enough progress before the June 1 deadline to keep Chapter 11 a viable option. All told, the recent deals mean that 16 GM factories will close and an additional 21,000 hourly workers will be out of a job.

[Source: CTV]

To pull the plug means to stop, give up, lay off, discontinue, cease. It's clear, concise language that leaves little room for misinterpretation. That is, apparently, unless you're Alec Baldwin. In a recent blog entry on Huffington Post, the actor had harsh words regarding the Detroit auto industry, blaming Motown for everything from global warming to wars over oil. He ended his diatribe with a simple message: pull the plug.

After a wave of controversy and, we can only assume, plenty of hate mail, Mr. Baldwin has issued a clarification of sorts. The 30 Rock star now says that he never said that he wants union workers to lose their jobs. You're probably wondering what a couple hundred thousand blue collar workers will do if they're not producing cars and trucks, right? Well, it turns out Alec doesn't want D3 automakers to go quietly into the night, either. Baldwin writes:

"I state, by using the phrase "pull the plug," that taxpayer funds should no longer be made available to bail out U.S. automotive corporations. They should file for bankruptcy, reorganize and emerge as wholly reconfigured entities, perhaps with labor owning significant positions in those companies."

In his first op-ed, Baldwin stated "I'd like to buy an American car, but I'd feel like a fool doing that now." He then went on to say that he was likely going to purchase a Japanese hybrid built in the American South. Just what the United Auto Workers union wants to hear.

Click through to the jump for more of Baldwin's best.

[Source: Huffington Post]

Not that it should come as a major shock to anyone paying attention over the last few weeks, but in a regulatory filing submitted by General Motors on Tuesday, the beleaguered automaker has admitted that it's unlikely to have acceptable deals negotiated with the either the United Auto Workers or Canadian Auto Workers unions before the previously announced deadline of May 27.

Equally as unsurprising are rumors that GM's plan to begin importing 50,000+ cars from China by 2014 is one of the major stumbling blocks in UAW negotiations. Other sticking points surely include how best to slash the desired $1 billion in annual labor costs that the two parties reportedly targeted and how to fund the Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) health care trust.

Furthermore, the Detroit Free Press is reporting that CAW union leaders are upset at the way they are being treated in negotiations. A flier passed out to Canadian union workers had this to say:

"Because the Canadian and U.S. governments are planning a joint effort to support GM's restructuring, we now face a dangerous attempt to enforce a 'cookie-cutter' approach on our bargaining. This philosophy is absolutely offensive to us as Canadians."

More than ever before, it seems almost a foregone conclusion that GM will file for bankruptcy on June 1st. Hold on tight, this promises to be a wild ride.

[Source: Detroit Free Press | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

With General Motors' bankruptcy filing all but assured, details of the deal are being hashed out as you read this and sources are coming forward to secretly divulge some of the more critical aspects of the plan. The newest tidbit comes from an unnamed source familiar with the negotiations speaking with Reuters who said that GM's Chapter 11 filing would create a new company comprised of the General's positive assets and will be initially owned by the U.S. government. The report lends further credence to the "good" GM, "bad" GM plan we've been hearing about for weeks, with one company taking on all of GM's deficient assets and another separate entity comprised of the positive assets, the latter of which could honor the claims of secured lenders, possibly paying back most or all of the money owed. But what about the taxpayer loans?

Reuters' source indicated that the new government strategy for GM would include extending the U.S.' credit line to the newly formed company and forgiving the majority of the $15.4 billion federal loans to the automaker. Additionally, the government could give both bondholders and GM's unions a stake in the company, and although a new board would be established – pending review from the government's oversight board – Rick Wagoner's successor and GM's new CEO, Fritz Henderson, would likely head the new company. Shocking? Hardly. Disturbing? Sound off in the comments below. Thanks to all who tipped in.

[Source: Reuters | Image Source: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

Depending on who you choose to listen to, General Motors and the United Auto Workers are either close to forging an important concessions deal, or they're still squabbling over GM's plans to sell imported vehicles to U.S. consumers.

GM and the UAW are in talks trying to slash $1 billion in annual labor costs, with reports stating that the plan would give the union a 39% stake in GM to help fund the Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) health care trust. GM already has around $15 billion invested in the VEBA, but it is still on the hook for some $20 billion. If reached, the new deal would reportedly cut that figure in half.

The agreement, which the Wall Street Journal says could be reached as soon as this week, will still need to be voted on by the UAW's 60,000 GM employees, who themselves also face upwards of 20,000 more job layoffs as well as more wage and benefit cuts.

Conversely, the Associated Press is reporting that the issue remains very much in doubt, with GM and UAW negotiators battling over GM's plans to sell vehicles built overseas – namely those from China – in the U.S. While GM officials reportedly say that the balance of vehicles it makes and sells in the U.S. will not change, UAW officials are rankled that its members face 16 more plant closures and a slate of givebacks. In fact, according to the AP, the UAW is so upset that it has sent an email to its members asking them to voice their displeasure by contacting President Obama.

[Sources: The Wall Street Journal; The Associated Press | Image: Spencer Platt/Getty]