Arlington GM plant to close 3 more weeks ( high gas prices fallout)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D89E22J00.html


General Motors Corp. has decided to shut down its Arlington assembly line for three more weeks this year in an effort to reduce backlogs of full-size sport-utility vehicles made at the plant. Together with other actions by GM, the move means the plant will be closed at least nine weeks this year.

The plant employs about 3,000 workers. They will get 95 percent of their base pay during the breaks, which GM calls downtime. GM built the Arlington plant for models such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade, which were big sellers for several years.

With gasoline prices rising above $2, however, SUV sales have softened. Through the first three months of the year, Tahoe sales fell 22.5 percent, Yukon sales dropped 26 percent and Escalade sales dipped 3.5 percent.

Analysts say sales of large SUVs have been hurt by high gasoline prices and increasing competition, including smaller "crossover" vehicles that get better gas mileage.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. GM may just come out with a hybirid some day

depends how well the Ford Escape does (Small SUV) yes there is one in hybrid flavor

[Coastie for Truth]

7. GM has a contractual right to "clone" any Toyota hybrid

They gained this through settlements of a series of patent law suits against Toyota and Toshiba in the early 1990's.

I am not sure of all of the patents involved - but at least half a dozen metal hydride battery patents were in the mix, and some "smart" automatic transmission patents (related to smart shifting between an electric motor and a gasoline engine).

The folk lore was that GM would pull a cloning of the Prius (like the Prizm/Corolla and the Vibe/Matrix) and not a GM redesign (VW Bug/Corvair).

Nothin'

[natrat]

17. this is GMs hybrid-apparently it is an utter pos

http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/hybridtest.html?tw=wn_tophead_8

[Tempest]

2. High gas prices are not GM's problem

It's the fact that GM fought increasing the gas mileage standards and they failed to develop a hybrid vehicle even as Toyota's Prius was selling well in the U.S. before gas prices went up.


GM is a dinosaur and extinction would be the best solution to their problem.

[leftofcool]

3. But, extinction would just put more workers out of jobs...........

if not for that, I would agree. At least with this "downtime", workers get most of their pay.

Left of Cool

[Tempest]

16. Workers are already losing their jobs at GM

Shift Elimination To Affect About 830 Jobs At Oklahoma City GM Plant
http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=80898

Up to 1,000 jobs eliminated at GM
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld­/tallahassee/business/11188000­.htm


Death by a thousand cuts.

[leftofcool]

19. Better than the million jobs that would be lost

with total extinction. GM alone employees several hundred thousand. That does not count employees at car dealerships, mechanincs, part dealers, etc.....

Left of Cool

[Tempest]

21. You're including worldwide workers

U.S. workers at GM isn't that many.

Adapt or die. There's nothing anyone can do about it.



And my second cite should have been 10,000 jobs cut, not 1,000.

[Tempest]

20. Sorry, that should have been 10,000 jobs

In the second cite.

[w4rma]

22. Really GM's ownership needs to change hands. That would be the best

solution. GM's current owners are very very bad at buisness and should be punished for not forseeing (or trying to ignore) something as obvious as a growing market for hybrids and good gas-milage vehicles.

[leftofcool]

26. I agree! eom

[Career Prole]

4. "They will get 95 percent of their base pay during the breaks"

I have to admit I like that. At least they aren't making the workforce pay for management's bad decision this time.

It's also encouraging to note that apparently the consumer is making GM realize at long last that bigger isn't necessarily better.
Could it be that gas prices are reaching the magical tipping point early? Here's to hopin'...

[NNN0LHI]

5. Got stock?

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?Symbol=GM&DateRangeForm=1&CP=0&PT=5&C5=1&C6=&C7=1&C8=&C9=0&ComparisonsForm=1&CE=0&CompSyms=&DisplayForm=1&D5=0&D7=&D6=&D3=0&ShowChtBt=Refresh+Chart

[Ian David]

6. The mixed messages this could send to GM workers

1) Damn greedy Republicans sending our jobs over-seas

2) Damn Democrats and their anti-Christian environmentalism that puts Spotted Owls ahead of hard-working Americans

3) Damn greedy Republican GM shareholders and their "bottom-line"

4) Damn Un-American Kerry who voted against the $87 Billion before he voted for it, or else we'd have all those glorious Hummers to send to our troops.

5) I'm bankrupt now and the GOP bankruptcy reform has completely fucked me over and their gutting of Medicaid has fucked me even harder. Damn, I wish we could import drugs from Canada.

6) I may be a poor laid-off auto worker whose wife's cancer and his children's mercury-poisoning-induced mental retardation have driven him to a devastating bankruptcy without healthcare, but at least them damn homosexuals can't destroy America. Support our Troops and Support Our President! God Bless America!

[5thGenDemocrat]

8. The view from Saginaw

Of those choices, I'd say the average UAW worker leans heavily toward (1).
John
My UAW buddy, Mike B, says it looks like a two-week (voluntary) layoff from Delphi Plant 3 here is heading his way, perhaps as soon as the end of this month. He figures the difference between working 40+ hrs/wk or taking the time off is about $3/hr.
Looks like some more early Tiger games for us.

[NNN0LHI]

18. Wish it were that simple. But it isn't. Its much more than 3 bucks an hour

Most of these employees own GM stock through their TESPE accounts. I personally know an auto worker who seen his retirement account go from over $250,000 to less than $50,000 since Bush took office.

Another variable is profit sharing. This same employee used to really enjoy his profit sharing checks that in some years were nearly $10,000 a year before Bush took office.

This same employee "bragged" to me last year he was voting for Bush.

Don

[5thGenDemocrat]

23. Haven't heard Mike mention any TESPE

Not saying he doesn't have one -- but the only retirement account he's mentioned in our talks is his bank book and the two houses he owns. He's also single, no kids.
That sucks about your friend, though.
John
Oh, and Mike voted straight-ticket Democratic. He does every election. He finds Chimpy just as disgusting as I do -- if that's possible.

[NNN0LHI]

24. He may not want to talk about his TESPE or profit sharing plan?

The autoworker I know goes completely beserko if I mention it.

Don

[leftofcool]

10. I'm bettin on #6.....eom

[Coastie for Truth]

9. What this really tells the workers

is that in retrospect, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight,

A 35 MILES PER GALLON CAFE WOULD HAVE PROTECTED YOUR JOBS

RELIANCE ON SUV'S ULTIMATELY KILLED YOUR JOBS

and

SINGLE PAYER, "SOCIALIZED MEDICINE" WOULD HAVE PROTECTED YOUR JOBS

"FOR PROFIT", PRIVATE HOSPITALS WORKING WITH "FOR PROFIT" PRIVATE INSURERS KILLED YOUR JOBS

[Ian David]

11. The high-mileage SUV's are one of Clinton's few big mistakes

I can count the big mistakes Clinton made on one hand.

The SUV glut is one of them.

It was Clinton who allowed auto manufacturers to exempt SUV's from emissions and mileage incentives.

However, in his defense, he probably had no idea just how bad it would get.

Who could have foreseen millions of Americans willing to drive an Escalade or a Hummer that gets 11 MPG?

Now it seems like every third car on the road is an Escalade, Excursion, Hummer, Explorer, Landrover, or something else that gets between 11 and 14 Miles per Gallon.

I wouldn't have seen it coming. I don't know if Clinton did, either.

[Coastie for Truth]

12. I live in an upscale condo in a "transit village"

and when we moved in (1997) over half of the cars were SUV's. Today, it's about 10%.

The special exemption for SUV's was before Clinton. By the 1990 model year the 4WD small cars were history - the only 4WD passenger vehicles on the market were SUV's and a scattering of Subarus and German luxury 4WD's. Nothing domestic.

[Ian David]

13. I may stand corrected about Clinton and the SUVs

I'll go back to Google-Land and see what I find.

Thanks!

(I'd love to win back another point on the pro-Clinton side).

[Ian David]

14. Clinton and CAFE

Clinton signs bill continuing CAFE freeze

Written By: Bonner R. Cohen
Published In: Environment News
Publication Date: January 1, 2000
Publisher: The Heartland Institute

<snip>

On September 16, the Senate, by a vote of 55 to 40, rejected an amendment sponsored by Slade Gorton (R-Washington) that would have allowed the administration "to study" the advisability of lifting Congress’ mandated freeze on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. Gorton had tried to attach his amendment to a popular transportation funding bill that enjoyed wide bipartisan support, thanks to the pork it contained.

Introduced in the mid-1970s at the height of the energy crisis, CAFE established a new federal scheme for regulating the average fuel economy of an automaker's entire fleet of cars and light trucks. Currently, CAFE standards are 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks, a category that includes SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks. Congress froze CAFE standards in 1995, and the Gorton amendment was an effort to lift that freeze.

Given the administration's--and particularly EPA's--hostility to SUVs, few doubted that the study Gorton proposed would have resulted in tighter fuel economy standards for light trucks. SUVs, seen as "gas guzzlers," are viewed as otherwise environmentally unfriendly because their emissions are higher than those of smaller vehicles.

Environmentalists were initially encouraged by the closeness of the vote, and they urged President Clinton to veto the giant transportation funding bill unless the Gorton amendment was restored. They noted that the 55 votes in favor of extending the freeze on CAFE for another year was far short of the two-thirds necessary to override a veto. But their hopes were dashed on October 12, when Clinton, despite an intensive lobbying campaign by green groups, signed the transportation bill.

More:
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=9852




MAY 27, 1999 5:59 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Sierra Club
Ann Mesnikoff, Sierra Club, 202-547-1141
Katherine Silverthorne, U.S. PIRG, 202-546-9707
31 Senators Call On Clinton To Support Cleaner SUVs, Nearing Level To Sustain Presidential Action
http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/may99/052799j.htm

WASHINGTON - May 27 - The Sierra Club and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) today hailed 31 U.S. Senators who signed a letter calling on President Clinton to improve pollution-cutting mile-per-gallon standards for automobiles. The letter indicates Senate support for CAFE has approached the level needed to support presidential action to implement the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law.

"I believe strongly that global warming is not a problem we can afford to ignore or dismiss. Strengthening the CAFE standards is one of the easiest, most important steps we can take to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fight global warming," said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who authored the letter and, along with Senators Bryan (D-NV) and Gorton (R-WA), led the effort in the Senate.

If the President heeds the Senators' call by implementing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law, it will save consumers money at the gas pump and cut global warming pollution by 240 million tons per year when fully phased in.

"Americans want cleaner SUVs and other light trucks, as they proved when thousands of citizens called, wrote and e-mailed their Senators asking them to cut auto pollution," said Ann Mesnikoff of Sierra Club's Global Warming Program. "These Senators listened to their constituents and joined the fight for cleaner vehicles. Raising CAFE standards is the biggest single step we can take to curb global warming."

"Families that drive SUVs should not be denied the benefits of fuel saving technology," said U.S. PIRG Staff Attorney Katherine Silverthorne. "The auto industry and their friends in Congress should stop holding fuel efficiency hostage. It's time to fix our gas guzzlers and put the brakes on global warming pollution."

"These Senators are turning the tables on automakers, refusing to be cowed by industry pressure -- it's a `Senator bites SUV' story," said Daniel Becker, Director of Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program. "The level of support nears the level we need to sustain presidential action to raise the standards."

In addition to the 31 Senators who signed the letter, 12 more voted in the past to increase CAFE standards.

"The technology to improve gas mileage exists right now, but automakers have decided to leave it sitting on the shelf and their friends in Congress are working hard to help them keep it there," Mesnikoff added.

CAFE standards have been stagnant for nearly a decade, with cars at 27.5 miles per gallon, and SUVs and other light trucks lagging behind at 20.7 miles per gallon. The numbers of SUVs and other light trucks on the road has increased dramatically in the last 10 years, helping to drive up levels of carbon dioxide pollution. While a Ford Taurus emits about 120 tons of global warming pollution over its lifetime, a gas guzzling Ford Expedition will spew out more than 200 tons. Closing the fuel-economy law loophole that allows SUVs and other light trucks to pollute more than cars would slash U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 240 million tons per year.

Senators signing the letter range from Fritz Hollings (D-SC) to Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to Jim Jeffords (R-VT).

###

[Coastie for Truth]

15. But the 4WD sedans and small wagons were gone by

the Fall of 1989. History. The 4wd Tempo/Topaz, the 4WD Eagle, the 4WD Corollas and Camrys -- all gone -- replaced by SUV's.

Through out the1990's it was a losing battle -- and the Michigan Democratic Party was against raising CAFE (I lived in MI at that time - worked on Jack Faxon's campaign, Carl Levin's campaign, tried to be a 4WD Tempo/Topaz from Conyers Ford). It was all over in 1989. At that time I was working for a vendor on the GM EV1 project.

[daleo]

25. GM (maybe Ford and Chrysler too) goes bankrupt

Then comes back under a slightly different name after restructuring. Executives get huge raises, some legal maneuvering allows them to dump the union. Workers' pay gets cut to $10 per hour.

Another development to watch for in Bush world.