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Adam
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/gm_cuts;_ylt=As7l2DLCHpt7Z3qjRUWRSpgDW7oF
DETROIT - The dwindling U.S. auto market and an accelerating shift from trucks to cars has brought grim layoff news to four General Motors Corp. factories.
The company announced Monday that it plans to cut one shift each at pickup truck and large sport utility vehicle plants in Flint and Pontiac, Mich.; Janesville, Wis.; and Oshawa, Ontario, resulting in about 3,550 layoffs.
The world's largest automaker by sales said the cuts, to take effect this summer, were brought on by weak demand due to high gasoline prices and an economic downturn.
GM said it will make about 88,000 fewer pickups and 50,000 fewer big SUVs this calendar year because of the cuts. The layoffs represent just over 4 percent of GM's hourly manufacturing work force of about 80,000 in North America.
The announcement came after stock markets closed. GM shares rose 56 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $21.94 Monday, then lost 3 cents in after-hours trading.
"With rising fuel prices, a softening economy and a downward trend on current and future market demand for full-size trucks, a significant adjustment was needed to align our production with market realities," GM North America President Troy Clarke said in a statement.
For about the past three years, the U.S. auto market has been shifting from pickup trucks and SUVs to cars and crossover vehicles, but the trend picked up in recent months due to gas prices that have reached $3.60 per gallon, on average.
GM expects the layoffs to begin July 14 at the Flint, Janesville and Pontiac plants, and Sept. 8 at Oshawa. Most of the factories had already seen layoffs and production cuts due to a parts shortage from a two-month strike at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc.
GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said the company will eliminate shifts with 750 workers each at Flint and Janesville, 1,150 workers in Pontiac, and 900 workers in Oshawa. Final numbers must be worked out with unions, he said.
Laid-off workers will get unemployment benefits and supplemental pay that total 80 percent of their normal 40-hour gross pay, said GM spokesman Dan Flores.
Greg Gardner, an analyst with the Oliver Wyman Group, said the cuts look like "a realistic assessment."
"The full-size pickup and SUV market is not going to rebound anytime soon," he said. "It looks like that they don't plan on making up very much of the production loss due to the American Axle strike."
Gardner said GM's announcement reflects the industry's overall production forecast this year, down to about 15 million light vehicles from an earlier forecast of 15.5 million.
The Flint, Pontiac and Oshawa plants make the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, while Janesville manufactures the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon big SUVs.
GM said it did not forecast how many of those vehicles it expected to make this year, but it sold about 1.1 million of them in the U.S. last year, according to Autodata Corp.
GM said pickup sales overall are down 15 percent through March, while sales of large SUVs are off 26 percent.
Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for the auto information site Edmunds.com, said GM has a 92-day average supply of large trucks. A 60-day supply is considered optimal in the business.
Toprak said the automaker will lose about $4.4 billion in gross sales because of the production cuts, but it's nearly impossible to determine the impact on GM's net profits.
The production cuts should help GM keep its inventory under control, said Catherine Madden, an analyst with the consulting firm Global Insight.
The cuts come as 74,000 U.S. workers represented by the United Auto Workers face a May 22 deadline to decide on GM's latest round of buyout and early retirement offers. |
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Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:41 am |
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Adam
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Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:07 pm |
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Public D
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What thoughtful timing:
CITY OF FLINT'S GENERAL MOTORS 100TH
CALENDAR OF EVENTS JULY 13 - 20, 2008
Events at the following areas:
Cultural Center
Buick Club of America Meet Wednesday - Sunday
Car Show Saturday
Lecture Friday
Swap Meet Wednesday - Saturday
Flint Public Library 28th annual Michigan Storyteller Festival Friday - Saturday
Sloan Museum - Bulgaria Auto Exhibit Memorial Day to Labor Day
Flint Institute of Arts
Whaley Historical House - Tours Wednesday - Sunday
Downtown
GM 100th parade featuring 1 car for each of GM's 100 years Sunday
General Car cruise under the arches Friday Night
General Motors Plant and Division Exhibits on surface lot Thursday - Saturday
Flint Make Chorus Riverbank Park Thursday
Bands on Saginaw Street Friday
Concert in the Park Saturday
Activities in the park - paddle boats, children games etc. Thursday - Sunday
Carriage Town
Birthplace of General Motors Tours Wednesday - Saturday
Neighborhood Tours Friday - Saturday
Concerts in the Carriage Town Plaza Friday
Possible GM exhibit in the Plaza Friday
GM Birthday Cake Friday
Atwood Stadium
Fireworks show Friday Night
Kearsley Park
General Motors Family Reunion Picnic Sunday
Baseball games between GM Divisions
Family games
Other events
Applewood Estate
Open for Tours Thursday
Mott Community College
Tour the Tech Center - Demonstration of 21st century technology Thursday
Kettering University Open House Thursday
Tour the Scharchburg Archives and see the papers of the Founder of General Motors from 1-4
Visit the Fuel Cell lab, Crash test labs, and others from 1-4
Historic Home tours of GM Executives
Parkside Drive Saturday
Plant Tours
Contact the Flint Area Convention & Visitors Bureau 810-232-8900 |
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:16 am |
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twotap
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Ah What the hell even though sales of the products are flat and inventorys are high lets just keep paying folks to pump em out so all the scheduled events in Flint get good attendance. Or better yet payem to
not
make em.
quote:
Laid-off workers will get unemployment benefits and supplemental pay that total 80 percent of their normal 40-hour gross pay, said GM spokesman Dan Flores.
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:16 am |
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Public D
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Why are sales flat?
Whose job is it to make critical decisions about product, price, inventory, long-term strategy?
Who should pay the price for failing to do this job?
What kind of business acumen would you say a person had if he endlessly asserted that the
only
way to grow a business is by cutting costs?
Who killed the electric car?
Why is ineptitude rewarded and all blame shouldered by those who have repeatedly and voluntarily cut their own standard of living so these millionaires can save face and their own retirement benefits?
Name the GM executives who live in Flint, shop at our stores, eat at our restaurants, send their kids to our schools.
What is the reason people side with these exploitive vultures while lambasting their fellow neighbors?
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080426/BUSINESS01/804260330
Wagoner's pay up 18%
GM raises compensation of top execs in 2007
BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • APRIL 26, 2008
General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner's compensation rose 18% in 2007 to $6.6 million, and the company said Friday it was raising the salaries of Wagoner and other top executives this year.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said Wagoner's base salary rose from $1.28 million in 2006 to $1.56 million in 2007, and the company gave him $2.56 million in stock, along with $1.8 million in long-term incentives and $697,000 in other compensation.
The automaker also made an adjustment to Wagoner's retirement plan that added $4 million to its value. But the company said in a note that his future retirement benefits would actually decrease because of a change in his retirement age. GM also gave Wagoner options on 500,000 GM shares that had a book value of $3.8 million, but whose actual value will depend on GM's share price. Wagoner did not cash in any stock options last year.
GM said the payments reflect "significant progress in improving the overall competitiveness of our business over the past few years."
Wagoner has spent the past few years trying to slash costs at GM and return its North American automotive business to profitability. While last year's $38.7-billion loss was due mostly to a bookkeeping change, the company was still losing money and burning through cash.
Analysts have said while GM is further in its turnaround than Ford Motor Co., a full recovery still seems at least a year away, despite well-received new vehicles such as the Chevrolet Malibu and a trio of crossover models.
Wagoner had taken a pay cut in 2006, ahead of negotiations with the UAW that resulted in a historic shift of more than $50 billion in retiree health care costs from GM's balance sheet to a union-run trust. The savings from that shift are expected to kick in around 2010.
GM said it had raised the base salaries of Wagoner, GM President Fritz Henderson and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz for 2008. Wagoner's salary is now $2.2 million, while Henderson's salary was boosted to $1.8 million from $1.3 million. Lutz's salary was set at $1.75 million, up from $1.3 million.
Henderson's total 2007 compensation rose 44% to $5.2 million, while Lutz's total package grew 36% to $4.6 million. Each executive was also granted 250,000 stock options.
GM also said in the proxy that E. Neville Isdell, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Co., had been nominated by the company to join the board of directors.
Contact JUSTIN HYDE at 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com. |
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:01 am |
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twotap
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quote:
Why are sales flat?
My guess would be people are not buying the product. Hey you and I agree on something. Increasing the pay at the top while everything at the bottom is turning to crap is obscene. Im afraid its gonna be a long time before things get better if they ever do. |
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:39 am |
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Adam
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quote:
Public D schreef:
Who killed the electric car?
Did you see the video on those? They had to threaten people to get them to give up their EV1's so they could destroy them. |
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:26 pm |
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Public D
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:34 pm |
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Dave Starr
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| Can't afford, or justify 2 cars, so I'm still waiting for the electric car that'll go 600 miles at 70mph between charges, and have an 8 hour or less recharge time. Also need luggage space for 2 people on a 3 week trip. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:00 pm |
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Public D
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Thu May 01, 2008 10:51 am |
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twotap
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quote:
Truth be told, I can't think of a legitimate reason to buy a H3.
And truth be I cant think of a legitimate reason anyone would buy other than from the big three US automakers, GM FORD CHRYSLER Im sure all the GM bashers on here would never be guilty of that no Toyotas, Hondas , Subarus or such in their garages. Of course not.
But like my H3 purchase I believe it should be no one elses concern but the person footing the bill.
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Thu May 01, 2008 10:55 am |
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Demeralda
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But it is our concern. You are hogging our gas. You are helping to drive up the price. You are contributing to our childrens' future inability to breathe, even to eat.
What you pay for it is not the only part of the formulation.
Because I'm going to die childless, I don't know why I care, frankly. |
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Thu May 01, 2008 1:07 pm |
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twotap
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| Ya right, Ill bet my computer controled finely tuned H3 pollutes less in one month and gets better mileage than some fume belching worn out piece of crap that ya see running around with the impeach Bush Now Stickers pasted all over the bumpers does in one day. I dont know what your driving nor do I care but it damn well better be some PC correct 45 and up mpg non smoke belching ride or you or your cohorts have no room to concern yourself as to what I or anyone else chooses to cruise in. A gallon of gas burned is a gallon of gas burned. As far as the rather silly comment about kids ability to eat have ya checked out all the lardass out of shape little darlins at your local mall lately. Looks to me like cutting back on their food supply might be a good idea. |
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Thu May 01, 2008 2:08 pm |
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Demeralda
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You do realize that processed foods are the cheapest? That is, the foods that cause obesity?
But that's still beside the point because the future doesn't look so good for the food supply, particularly while these idiots chase the pipe dream of ethanol.
There are plenty of worse cars on the road, absolutely. The H3 isn't even the worst SUV. However, it's non sequitur to excuse yourself just because other people are doing worse things.
I'm appalled over and over again as politicians like Hillary talk about responsible policy yet still roll around in Yukons and Suburbans.
And you know, I don't have as much problem with people who seem to have a NEED for such vehicles. If you do construction, well of course you need a truck big enough to haul supplies.
It's the people like my coworkers -- single occupant every day, no need for a big car, but loves to show off the H3. I think that's irresponsible. |
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Thu May 01, 2008 3:20 pm |
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twotap
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quote:
However, it's non sequitur to excuse yourself just because other people are doing worse things.
Excuse myself from what. not living up to your standards as to whats an appropriate ride. You did not answer my question as to what your driving so I take it since you are single with no kids in the future that you are getting around in the bare minimum high milage no footprint ride you could find.
Last edited by twotap on Fri May 02, 2008 7:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Thu May 01, 2008 4:13 pm |
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