Download this pdf to get the 411 on a new GM-on-the-brink compensation scheme, sent to us by a member of TTAC’s Best and Brightest. The program has been activated by GM’s recent decision to shut down production for nine weeks over the summer. How’s this for reassurance? “SDPA salary will be paid on a semi-monthly basis. The current percentage established by this policy is 75%. Leadership reserves the right to terminate, modify, suspend, increase or decrease salaries and benefits provided under this policy.” Equally worrying (for some), employees getting free vehicles form GM will have to pay for their own fuel during the downtime. “Fuel expenses incurred during the entire paid downtime period are at the expense of the employee (similar to when on vacation or Holiday). All other vehicle expenses (e.g., oil changes, etc.) will continue to be covered in accordance with the PEP/ECVP rules and terms in effect throughout the paid downtime period(s).” Every 3000 miles?
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Makes you wonder if the lights are going to come back on after the nine week temporary shutdown.
How are they going to get all those company cars back?
I’m looking on AutoTrader right now for a used tow truck and I’ll be heading to Grosse Pointe in it.
You would have better luck on truckpaper.com than autotrader.
The popular most popular rig for the repo guys around here is a place jane pickup with a tow unit that hides in the bed.
Holy Crap! I just got laid off and am only gonna get 75% of my pay AND I have to buy gas now? How will I live?!
Hey theres one way to get em to park the Yukons
.This falls under,cruel and unusual punishment.
Really, the company has been losing money for five years.The hourly work force has been decimated.You need 10 years to hold a job in Oshawa.20 for skilled trade’s.The hourly and salary pension’s are underfunded.Sales are off 45%
The once proud General Motors finds themselves depending on government,loans/welfare?Dealer,s are closing the doors.Home’s are lost.Kids education plans are on hold.Retirement dreams are shattered.
But now the ultimate sacrifice.The bloated ,inept
overpaid,underworked senior management.This would be the same management that made the lousy decision’s,or should I say “wouldn’t make any
decision”.The same crew that is riddled with neptosism,and over run with yes men.YES!the same bunch of incompetant’s that got us here.Don’t tell me they have to, horror of horror’s.
!PAY FOR THIER OWN GAS!
Sorry I’m overcome with emotion.I have to wipe the tears off my laptop.
I can’t think of an industry with this amount of fluff built into it’s operations. No wonder billions a month are lost. I could care less if it was all investor and private money but it no longer is. They are burning through tax dollars now. I can’t stand any more calls to save these businesses when they don’t deserve our charity.
Everyone knows a family where a job is gone, the bills are stacking up, and time is running out. It sickens me to see this being accepted as the norm by these bozos.
Now some truth.
This is about keeping the staff in the plants that are down for up to nine weeks. This policy pays LESS than what those salaried people would get with out the change. Here it comes for the TTAC minions “why pay them anything ?” well then they would be unemployed and who would be there to pick up the pieces in 9 weeks. Here it comes again “Why pick up the pieces ?” Because this company is going to fight to survive and at least our governments recognize that GM is a critical part of our economy. Spare us the transplant rant, those plants are busy figuring out how little they can pay and how much production they can repartriate to their home markets right now.
Re gmbuoy:
“GM is a critical part of our economy…”
Not wanting to start an argument here but No, GM is not a “Critical” part of the the economy.
A critical part of Michigan’s economy, perhaps a critical part of your economy, but not the nation as a whole.
Companies that live solely on bailouts and lose tons of money actually hurt the economy. They suck the life out of productive companies.
Political, not economical necessity is temporarily keeping GM alive. The very minute the political price becomes too high GM’s benefactors are going to cut it loose; and you can cancel Christmas.
Hmmmm . . . Seems like a “Jobs Bank” for salaried employees.
This actually makes some sense. It takes time and money to recruit and train a salaried employee and, if GM just cut them loose, many would go elsewhere. Then when (if) things returned to more normal conditions, they would need to be replaced.
This is about keeping the staff in the plants that are down for up to nine weeks. This policy pays LESS than what those salaried people would get with out the change. Here it comes for the TTAC minions “why pay them anything ?” well then they would be unemployed and who would be there to pick up the pieces in 9 weeks.
Everyone at my sister’s company got a 50% pay cut for two months and and a 25% cut for another two months. They also had to show up to work everyday. This was after everyone got a mandatory two week furlough last year. In addition, her company didn’t receive any government bailouts either.
Everyone at my sister’s company got a 50% pay cut for two months and and a 25% cut for another two months.
Yeah, well at GM the hourly work force gets full pay at layoff (when you include the collusion fees paid by the average Blue State unemployment office).
The Execs expect a taste.
MikeinCanada
GM of Canada has taken nothing from the Canadian government as of today. Did you read the study done independently that showed that over almost 100,000 jobs in Ontario (Canada) were tied to the Domestics ? Did you read the statement from Don Walker of Magna (Canada again) that said that the government LOANS were necessary for keeping the entire secondary parts manufacturers alive. Again I am sure the TTAC minions don’t like it but folks its like this :in North America we are all in the same boat. When it starts to leak at one end of the boat you don’t say hey let that guy drown because eventually your boat is going to sink as well.
Oops here it comes from the Minions with economics 101. “Comparitive Advantage says let
those who can make them cheaper, make’m and we will find something more value added to do.” It don’t work like that in the real world. The only free trading economies in the world are the U.S and Canada and everybody else is eating our lunch or looking at the our menu. The koreans and the japanese are hurting and if they think they can repatriate production to the home market they will. You folks on the left and the right coasts may not give a $%&@ about what happens in the fly overs but they are the people that consume your media products, your financial services and receive the products that pass through your ports.
GM has been paying taxes for 100 years in N.A. or more and if it goes it is GONE, it ain’t coming back and the transplants are not going to grow to replace the economic impact. They are going to downsize and move home.
I suspect that what gmbouy says is true. Even the French govt tried to encourage PSA to move production from Slovakia (member of the EU) back to France as a condition of their ‘loan’ until the EU Commission slapped the French down.
You can bet that MITI are talking with Toyota etc about increasing domestic (in Japan) production for export to keep the plants and workers in Nippon employed.
Re gmbuoy :
Your passion for the subject does not support all of the issues that you touch on. I think that you a being selective with the supporting data.
“GM of Canada has taken nothing from the Canadian government as of today.” GM has enjoyed decades of tax breaks, pensions deferments that are unrivaled – with the exception of Bombardier and perhaps CN Rail – both of which are former crown corporations, both heavily politicized. Just this week GM announced they were going to access a $6Bln line of credit from the Gov’t.
“Did you read the statement from Don Walker of Magna (Canada again) that said that the government LOANS were necessary..” Come on, were you expecting him to say ‘No, stop giving us money….’
“The only free trading economies in the world are the U.S and Canada and everybody else is eating our lunch…” Boeing, Caterpillar, Cisco, GE, IBM, the entire oil exploration industry, etc. etc, might differ with your bleak assessment.
“GM has been paying taxes for 100 years in N.A. or more and if it goes it is GONE…” Well, they have not paid too much in the past 25 years that’s for sure. Going forward, when factoring in the opportunity costs of all these subsidies, the amounts being demanded (+$100 Bln just to reinvent GM) rapidly approach whatever ‘taxes paid’ amount GM claims to have paid over the years.
“the transplants are not going to grow to replace the economic impact. They are going to downsize and move home…” Could you provide an example of this happening in NA? Didn’t think so. A more accurate statement would be ‘GM is going to evaporate and transplants are not going to move in and take their place – in Michigan.‘ That’s because these states made the decision to be high cost states in which to run manufacturing operations. They could change the laws and tax structures tomorrow – but they don’t want to (the populace would rather get bailouts). Consequently, I’m against it – either in the US or Canada.
MikeInCanada :
More Truth :
Mike your comment about GM Canada paying no taxes in 25 years is just not true. GM Canada pays, income taxes every year, property taxes, payroll taxes and rst. While the number is not public it has to be at least a 1/2 Billion C$ per year (15,000 employees * 20,000(income tax) = 300,000,000. Biz school taught me that an income stream of 300,000,000 was worth 2.1 Billion so add in the rest and what benefit does Ontario and the Feds get for the loan that was requested ?
GMCL has taken no money as of this date.
GMCL taking money in Canada was based on NEW investment. GM’s position has never been give them money or they will go home.
Now the Opinion :
Hope that the transplants continue to grow in NA is the basis of your position.
Every company you mentioned is basically a very small presence in the Canadian economy. If GMCL goes down it is going to take a huge chunk of the Ontario economy with it. And that would snowball across the great white north from Naniamo to Argentia.
It’s okay to have a free trader / no interventionist philosophy,
It’s not okay to trust in the invisible hand when other countries are stacking the deck.
The auto sector is too important, too big a section of the Canadian Economy to be allowed to turtle over night. It ain’t passion buddy, it’s called being smart, in a world economy where everybody else is acting in their self interest and we are playing by the rules.
Hope based on an Economics 101 outlook on life is not smart.
Bring it on TTAC minions.
gmbuoy :
GM Canada is not an independent company. The only stockholder is the GM mothership. When you evaluate it from that perspective, the P&L picture changes dramatically.
“GM Canada pays, income taxes every year, property taxes, payroll taxes and rst…”
You forgot to mention the other part of the income statement – expenses, depreciation, payments back to GM HQ, etc., etc.
Income taxes – GM Canada does not (and never was designed) to make a profit – it’s not a company – it’s a division.
GM’s North American manufacturing has in fact not been profitable for a very long time. It’s hard to believe that a company that is full of smart finance people (and GM sure is) would allow a division to be profitable – and have to pay tax – while at the same time, the US divisions are losing money. It’s simple, legal, and all too common to structure a foreign division (GM Canada) so that it breaks even (at best). As far as payroll taxes, you assume that if these employees did not work for GM Canada that would not be working anywhere else – and not paying any taxes.
“The auto sector is too important, too big a section of the Canadian Economy to be allowed to turtle over night.” GM Canada is not the ‘auto sector’. You conveniently forget all the other manufactures from other companies. If the sector was as critical as you make it seem, how come the government is not asking Honda and Toyota what can they do to help them and their suppliers? Are not the taxes paid by their workers as important as GM’s?
“If GMCL goes down it is going to take a huge chunk of the Ontario economy with it. And that would snowball across the great white north from Naniamo to Argentia.” That’s a bit dramatic. I’d like to see the data just how GM Canada effects the economies of Alberta or BC, or anyone west of Ottawa for that matter.
Bottom Line: This is a economic disaster for the CAW, but not for the country. Outside Oshawa, Windsor and a couple of small towns in southern Ontario the union and auto manufacturing is just an afterthought. That the economy revolves around the auto industry is a perspective that is 30 years out of date. It is no longer accurate.
Even the CAW will carry on. The day after GM’s Bankruptcy Bombardier will still make aircraft, Air Canada planes will still takeoff and arrive (late), Alberta will still pump oil and gas, and Quebec will continue to mine killer asbestosis and export gorgeous strippers.
And GM Canada will be just another case study that I have to deal with on Thursday nights at UT.
As I read through this thread, my thoughts are more around what economy will our children grow up and work in. Will there be a quality of life GM has afforded so many families across the world? As the mayor of Lansing suggested, should those GM’ers apologize for a company that has supported a high standard of living or should we be trying to work towards the lowest denominator in the global economy? Make no mistake, GM is a great company to work for. It has affored me two university degrees and the opportunity to work as a professional. It has allowed me to give my family a great standard of living. I pay my income taxes in good faith that it is supporting a better place to live. I pay extra for local products and services with the belief it will support my neighbour/city/country. So instead of bantering over whether GM should survive or not, lets think about how to build great companies like GM, and make great lifestyles available in countries like Canada and the US for our children to live and work in.
A couple more thoughts:
MikeinCanada, where are you going to work when you graduate from UT? Where will you live? What standard of living to do you want?
mikey, As one of those “bloated ,inept
overpaid,underworked senior management.” GM guys, I find my self working another 60+ hour work week, far away from my family, worrying about my families future while trying to make my company more successful. What did you do this week that makes you so special?
I wish all companies could support their employees in good times and bad times as well as GM.
Re: Transam455
I’ve been an aerospace engineer for almost 20 years now. I’ve never stopped going to school. After my second layoff (which aerospace and aviation is famous for) I learned the hard way that it’s not my ‘job’ rather it is my skills that pays the bills. It’s my responsibility to be ‘marketable’.
If you’ve been able to obtain two university degrees while employed good for you. Your motivation and intelligence are are going to take care of you in the long run – not any one company.
I agree that good companies should be nurtured – and the everyone, employees, society should enjoy the benefits accordingly.
Unfortunately, GM has not fit the description of a great company in a long time.
What antagonizes people (I think) is not that GM tried to compete – and lost. It’s that when faced with competition, they did everything in their power not to perform as the markets demanded.