AmericanVOR

Car Czar: Auto Companies Will Need More, A Lot More

Voices from the Bottom Row: A View from Within GM

I read a lot about the public perception of the autoworkers. Since the comments I read are often repeated, I can only surmise that a lot of people are very interested in talking about work dynamics and habits of the typical autoworker. So I decided to give some perspective from an employee’s view.

I am a body structures designer for GM and I use Unigraphics to do my job. I am currently working on three different programs. I am designing parts and creating design studies for four different engineers. I organize my work by timing of the due dates, and I strive to meet them. I also attend meetings when my parts are required for review.

I go to lunch around 11:00. This usually consists of me reaching from a brown bag and eating leftovers from the night before (if we happened to have time to cook between school conferences and other seemingly endless things that pop up as the weeks come into focus). Most times, I eat at my desk and read. Often, work does call during lunch and I return to designing or reviewing while I eat. That’s ok with me, and the only compensation I ask for shows up in my checking account twice a month.

I am paid for 8-hours, but I am not a clock watcher. I work what it takes to get the job done. When special projects arise that require a volunteer, I raise my hand.

I am 41 years old. I have a wife with major health issues. She has been hospitalized fifteen times since January 2008. It is not over yet*. I also have six-year-old triplets. We all attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Overall, we live rather modestly. Aside from some uniqueness, I think we represent the basic lifestyles of the most of my co-workers.

I also attend Central Michigan University in pursuit of my Bachelors degree in Vehicle Design Engineering. I have an Associate’s degree in Vehicle Design from a community college and a Designing Engineer certificate from Michigan Technological University. I have paid for most of my classes out of my own pocket. GM paid once I was hired, but I got myself there. Due to cutbacks, GM has relinquished the tuition reimbursement. I will still go to school.

I hope you understand that, when I read about lazy autoworkers, it hits a nerve with me. I am surrounded every day by men and women doing the same thing I am doing. We are fighting for our jobs and not a single one of us feels entitled to anything.

I am not UAW. However, the common opinions of the UAW is decades old. Yes, there are bad eggs in every job and there are still steps to take. However, if you have been following for the last five years, you know that the UAW at GM is barely a shell of its former self. And there are still metrics in place that will further the progress to being competitive with the foreign business model.

There are times when we’re slow, as is the nature of programs winding down and ramping up, that I feel guilty at the end of the day. I hate not being busy. I WANT to EARN my wages.

I don’t believe I am unique. I believe most everyone is like me. I want to right wrongs. I want to produce. I want to make people happy and, if I could find a way to change the perception of the company I work for, I would. I know we are making the best product we ever have, and I know it is world class. I know we have made great strides in quality, styling, and cost cutting. We are doing way more with much less and I feel GREAT PRIDE in being a part of GM.

It hasn’t been fun for the last 3-4 years, but I still love my job. I have survived headcount reductions, but they keep coming. I know what might be ahead for me. I accept it as well. I will lean on my faith, but I fear greatly the reality of what will happen to my family. Still, I would regret the worst happening without my voice being heard in support of my GM brothers and sisters. I cannot change my external environment, but I can choose how I react to it. This is my reaction.

GM was a major factor in creating the middle class. GM was there to help build war machines. GM has been there with vehicle aid after natural disasters. GM was there to help keep the economy going after 9/11. GM is not just a car company. It is an integral part of American history.

People have strong opinions about autoworkers, and I’m certain they are rooted in varying degrees of history and truth. However, I am here to tell you that today, I represent the general employee base here at GM. Nobody denies the fact that we have made some blunders. We lost our way in the eighties and we stumbled through the nineties. But this company is 100 years old. Along with Ford and Chrysler, our cars and trucks have been the lion's share of choices when it comes to parades, car shows, cruises, farming, construction, contractors, movies, children’s' automotive dreams, and adults' automotive passions. From our earliest models of class and elegance to wartime transformations, we've built history. From dependency on oil to breakthrough technologies in alternative fuels, we are building the present. With a competitive global business model in place, a workforce of passionate men and women, and seemingly endless opportunities to explore new technologies, I know we can build the future!

Peace be with you,

Dominic Gerace

*Update for: As of march 8th, 2009, my beautiful wife is no longer with us.

Is a Car Produced in Alabama Really an Import?

Let's simplify it. Your mother works hard, secures a business loan, establishes a florist, employs local people, and has a good business that gives back to the community. She got it without government incentives and learned the trade by the sweat of her brow and making mistakes. She has paid her dues.

Then a guy from aother country decides he wants to have a florist too. Your local community government gives him money and land to build one. He builds a state-of-the-art facility and he's up and running. However, he still lives in his home country.

Then the same government that paid him to set up shop comes into your florist and tells you that you must start growing certain flowers and each flower has to give off a set amount of oxygen. Then they leave you to pay for this change and figure it out, even though the market for those flowers is very small.

Meanwhile, the other guy's business is booming. His home country pays health care, so the advantages of his operations there help him do business here. He chose not to pay retirement benefits to his employees, but your mom had already set a retirement deal fo rher workers years ago.

Your mom's florist has a hard time competing and beings to cut corners. Finally, she needs some help and asks the governemnt for a loan, This is the same government that gave the other guy incentivs to set up the shop that is putting her out. Still, the government, the media, and the public drag her through the mud and call her a beggar.

Once she was praised for providing jobs, good wages, retirement, health care, and upping the standard of living for all who lived around her florist. Now she is ridiculed for those same things. She is told to "do it like the foreign guy", but when she asks for money like he got, she's slammed.

Mom is cutting corners at home. No cable, no-name brand foods, heat set at 65, backing off sporting programs for her kids...

Then one day, your sister comes home with a ficus tree that she bought from the other guys florist. You explain to her how buying from mom's florist will help your household. She tells you that her friend from school works at the other florist, so its the same thing.

Obama Insists Cars Improve Fuel Efficiency by 40%

35 years of CAFE standards did NOTHING to change the buying habits of consumers. Then one year of $3.00+ per gallon gas stalled the sales of high profit vehicles and spurred on the sales of high mileage vehicles.

Now that gas prices have dropped under $2.00 per gallon, the high mileage car sales are going down again. Hybrid car sales dropped 10% by the end of 2008.

CAFE will only force companies to make vehicles that nobody wants. High gas prices will force customers to want high mileage vehicles.

Why Won't GM Just Go Away?

"Coral" and "sublimation" in my post above should read "cereal" and "subsidation"

Trying to write fast and trust Word spell checker :)

Why Won't GM Just Go Away?

"There was a time when the esteemed union members used to SABOTAGE the assembly line when they weren't happy with their contracts. "

And there was a "time" when we were at war with Japan. But we correct things and move on, right?

Today's American car and its world class quality is not a result of sabotoge and lazy workers. Besides, what corporation didn't have insubordination within its ranks at times? Go to alocal car show and see that the American car companies DO have a LOT to be proud of.

They don't write songs about Toyotas and Hondas.

Why Won't GM Just Go Away?

Paul, it is not so cut and dry. I'll try to explain from a different vanatge point...

Let’s say your mom saved her money, got a small business loan, and opened a small florist. She invests her time and money, grows flowers, and the business does good. She is able to give good wages to her employees, and that in turn allows them to spend in their communities. Your mom is able to support your family and grow the business, employing more people from neighboring communities. But she can't grow the business without good business first. That is what allows reinvestment. Years go by and many communities are benefactors as the florist pays local, and federal taxes, employs thousands of workers and requires services like carpet cleaning, building maintenance.. All of these services from local communities.

One day, another florist is built across the street. You find that the owner lives in Japan. And that owner was given money from his government to start his florist back home. Now that he wants to expand into the U.S., he is able to build right away because he didn't need to save up for reinvestment. Then you find out that he was given a huge tax break to build his florist here by our government (taxes your mom and employees paid). Not only that, but he has been given a couple of years to do business at a much lower tax rate than your mom currently pays.

His florist hires workers, but he pays them less and offers less benefits. But his flowers cost the same as yours. So with his subsidization from home, aid from the U.S., and lower operating costs than your mom, his florist becomes profitable very soon.

Now that he has these advantages, he is able to spend freely on R&D to build much better flowers. His flowers live longer, smell better, and begin to get a reputation for quality even though he has been in business not nearly as long as your mom.

Your mom wants to compete, but she promised her workers these benefits. And even though her business model built your surrounding communities, she is now being slammed in the media and on Seeking Alpha, and by her own congressmen who give billions to the other florists.

Your mom is told to "do it like them". So she asks for government help, like they do it, and she is slammed even more.

So your mom does it the old fashion way. She works hard and puts in a LOT of her own time and money and she finally has flowers as well as anybody’s in the world. Unfortunately, the perception is that her flowers are bad, and the foreign guy’s florist has the best flowers ever.

Now your mom is losing business even though her product is great. So she begins to cut costs. She lays off workers, starts buying generic coral for home and cancels cable TV. You, as her child, feel the pinch.

Then one day, your sister comes home with some flowers bought from the foreign florist. You explain to her the connection between your quality of life and mom's florist. Her answer is that a friend from school works there, so it's the same thing.

Meanwhile, the owner of the other florist's owner still lives in Japan. Always has, always will He reaps the lion's share of profit and brings it home while still enjoying home sublimation, government health care, and United States tax breaks whenever he wants to build here and start the cycle all over again.

At this point, even when all forists are losing money, it is still better to support the home team. It is a global economy, but we should still support the home team. Just like both basketball teams are on the court, but let's keep our shots going into the right basket. Why shoot for theirs?

Why Won't GM Just Go Away?

What is "Seeking Alpha" and how is it linked on YAHOO? What kind of quality do they look for in their writing? This blog is full of lies, mistruths, and misperceptions, not to mention overt failure to report real facts. The UAW has agreed to historical concessions, and they are still willing to negotiate. They have said from day 1 that they will negotiate, but they felt they had done a good amount of it already and want others to come to the table as well. That is only good business sense and being fair. And I'm not even UAW!! I do know that the UAW is about 1/3rd the size they were less than a decade ago. The old stories are not the real world today.

Even IF all the UAW stories were true, even IF they did make $70 an hour, slept on the job, came to work drunk... then how could the quality of our American cars be on par or even better than the foreign makes (which they are)?

Do you realize that not only do we compete with the foreign companies, but we compete with their governments too? EVERY non-American car company is subsidized by their home government. Every one of them.

I have a better idea than just letting GM "go away" (along with the millions of auto-related workers whose sudden unempoyment would have a worse effect than any government loan), how about we get behind our home team and take back what is ours? Let's fight for our manufacturing jobs, let's rise up against foreign brands getting billions form our government to take market share and jobs from us.

Anyone can sit int heir underwear and bang out uneducated opinions on a keyboard. But who will really take a stand, roll up their sleevs, and take this country back?

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Detroit: Please Bring Back the Stripped Car

In theory, I do agree with your points. We should be offering a value minded "go-kart" with fenders.
Some issues with that is overall part content between levels, scheduling, and piece price.

For example, when power windows were new, it was extra to have them included, so the price reflected the content.

Today, the wire harness that runs through the car contains all the connections anyway. It would actually be more expensive to order different harnesses for each option level.

Then there are safety requirements that need to be satisfied. An impact beam inside a door will be designed with all available options in place, then used across the model line. The money involved in design, testing, and materials are already designed into the vehicle.

At that point, with the engineering and part content in place, it becomes a minimal expense to toss in the power window assembly which is bought in large quantities.

A manual windw would be a different assembly and would require its own design and engineering. If it is a low volume option, it would actually cost more than one might think to purchase.

This is just one example where, pricewise, it may make more sense to equip a car with options that we feel it could be cheaper without. Truth is, they might not be able to make a less equipped car all that much cheaper.

And if I wanted to sell cars, I could take an equipped model of a in the class of a competitor's and price it just a little higher than thiers and say, "Look how much more you get here for just another $30 a month in your payment."

Just saying...

Detroit: Please Bring Back the Stripped Car

"...the Chevy Chevette sold for $4,995 in 1997."

Ummmm... 1997?

The last production year for the Chevette was 1987.

Auto Industry Rescue Delays the Inevitable

"Can you name any other industry where the companies that are #1 and #3 in terms of market share are struggling to survive, whilst significantly smaller competitors have no problems generating several fold more in profit?"

Can you name me any other industry where the home companies are given standards and regulations by their government, but no financial subsidization to execute their law, but then that same home government offers heavy tax breaks to foreign makes to set up shop here? Foreign makes that have health care sponsored by their home government? Foriegn makes that are also subsidized by their home government in their operations including the resource hungry R&D operations?

Can you name me another business that: is credited for raising the standard of living, creating the middle class, offered security to workers at retirement, provided health care, manufactured war machines for their country, gives heavily to the United Way through corporate and employee contributions, donated milions in cash and vehicles after national disasters and terrorists attacks, and was given accolades for helping jump start the economy after 911, and now that same company is treated like gum on a shoe by congressmen and millions of decade-old stereotype-spouting amature bloogers and uninformed professional journalists?

Can you name one other company that has been such an intregal part of American history, but is now the subject of hate and ridicule for simply trying to provide quality benefits while its market is structured for foreign brands to do business much more cheaply than the home team?

Has General Motors Earned a Bailout?

No, GM does not deserve a bailout. However, they do deserve a loan, which is what they are asking for.

"...it is hard to see a viable path forward. GM is basically paying $30/hr for labor more then the transplants... This is a significant cost advantage which will simply, at some point, push GM back to bankruptcy's door again..."

V.E.B.A. It has already been agreed upon and signed. It essentially eliminates the labor cost difference that people and media keep bringing up over and over and over and over and over...

That issue has been resovled and is a valuable metric in the plans for GM's resurgence.

" ...All of the Big 3 need to downsize their workforces, but they can't afford to do ..."

GM has cut its payroll drastically, by 45.8 percent in the U.S. alone since 2000. In fact, GM is far from the largest employer in the industry. With 252,000 employees worldwide, GM ranks fifth overall behind Volkswagen (373,400 employees,) Renault/Nissan (316,121 employees,) Toyota (316,121 employees) and Daimler (272,382 employees). Yet GM sold more vehicles worldwide last year than any other automaker.

Automakers: Bailout Arguments, Pro and Con

MYTH:

"GM cannot build cars that people want at a price people can afford. That is the bottom line."

FACTS:

GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of about 560,000 so far this year. Globally, GM in 2007 remained the world's largest automaker, selling 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide -- about 3,000 more than Toyota.

Although total U.S. vehicle sales are down almost 15% so far this year (through October), a number of GM cars and crossovers have enjoyed significant sales increases:

Chevy Malibu +39%
Pontiac Vibe +36%
Pontiac G6 + 4%
Cadillac CTS +15%
Saturn Aura +7%
GMC Acadia +2%
Buick Enclave +88%

Reasons to Bail Out GM

GM did not give anyone bonuses. Chrysler just did that. And I agree with you that it sucks, but you show ignorance in your reply.


On Nov 18 06:35 PM Bail out!!!! wrote:

> Now GM wants a bailout!! After handing out 30 million in bonus pay
> to the top dogs. You guys even named them and told us all how much
> they got, Did they receive 1 million or 1.8 million? And then layed
> off the worker ants! And now want tax payers money to bail out their
> business! I say it's time for a revolution in this country. Maybe
> someone should take a contract out on these top dogs and see if that
> million was worth that!! We know who they are, right?

A GM Collapse Would Signal Hope for Robin Hood

"So a GM bailout would benefit rich workers "

You're kidding, right? I'm rich???
We are a one-income family and I have no cottage, boat, ATV's, snowmobiles, motorcycles... I'm really living it up!
I have 6-year-old triplets and a very sick wife. I work, parent, and still go to school at 41 years old. What 401K I did have has been cut in half.

I'm feeling real rich here. You want to know about the typical employee? Read on:

home.comcast.net/~Babies3/GM.htm

Let GM Fail

The VEBA agreement will take 50 billion of GM's hands and make it that much cheaper to do business in the US. The UAW is a shell of its former self. They are asking for a loan to bridge one year. You want to let them DIE and pay the consequences rather than help them float one year?

3 million jobs lost? Better than loaning them a bridge to get to 2010?