Courtesy fo GM. 30,000 Employees were laid off. Including 3,800 in Ontario.-- Edited by God at 16:20, 2005-11-22
Humm I like you...not sure who you are but I like you already!! I just read this...I thought it was seriously a "HAPPY AMERICAN THANKSGIVING" thread...I thought I would drop a "who the fack cares" in here.......
Imperialist bastards
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CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!!!!
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....loss of some 30,000 jobs across North America – including at least 3,600 or more in Ontario......
It’s the equivalent of an economic tsunami: a tidal wave of despair has settled over Oshawa, after General Motors confirmed Monday at least 3,600 of its 30,000 North America-wide job cuts would hit the Canadian city, along with St. Catharines and Windsor.
The world’s biggest automaker, which has been leaking money as fast as a bad tank spills gasoline, is moving to shore up its bottom line before it gets any worse.
And that means cutting the one area that’s amongst its biggest expenses – the cost of labour.
Oshawa’s Car Plant No. 1, which makes the Impala, will lose its third shift in the second half of 2006, affecting some 1,000 staff.
And its Plant No. 2 – where the Pontiac Grand Prix is churned out - will cease production by 2008 after the current product line runs out, eliminating about 2,300 hourly workers and 230 salaried positions.
Also, a powertrain components plant in St. Catharines will be closed by 2008, leaving another 130 looking for work.
The company hopes most of the impact will come through attrition and early retirement and not outright layoffs. But everyone knows no matter how it’s done, it will be painful.
Other plants facing closure are located in Oklahoma City, Lansing, Mich., Spring Hill, Tenn., and Doraville, Ga., in addition to three other service and parts operations facilities.
GM chairman and C.E.O. Rick Wagoner had announced weeks ago that the Detroit-based car company would have to make plans to close plants by the end of the year, in order to cut costs in relation to U.S. demand for their vehicles.
The company’s plants run at about 85 percent capacity presently, lower than facilities run by its Asian rivals.
"The decisions we're announcing were very difficult to reach because of their impact on our employees and the communities where we live and work," Wagoner admitted. "But these actions are necessary for General Motors to get its cost in line with our major global competitors. In short, they are an essential part of our plan to return our North American operations to profitability as soon as possible."
The company had been hit by falling U.S. market share, high labour and benefit costs and competition from overseas automakers.
Last year, Japan shipped 1.7 million cars to North America. But only 30,000 North American built vehicles were allowed in to Japan, an inequity that’s killing the car business on this side of the world.
GM is living proof of that - it lost nearly $4 billion U.S. in the first three-quarters of 2005.
Last week, after GM shares fell to their lowest numbers in 18 years, Wagoner said in an email to employees that the company wouldn’t be filing for bankruptcy, and that a plan was in place to turn numbers around.
GM Canada president Michael Grimaldi, speaking at an Oshawa news conference, said the automaker isn’t giving up on its Canadian operations.
"I want to emphasize that General Motors remains very committed to maintaining a strong manufacturing presence in Canada," he vowed.
The cost cutting will hurt, but could help GM rebound. It’s estimated the company will save $7 billion by the end of next year.
The “G” in GM doesn’t stand for "Grinch". But you can’t blame General Motors employees if they think it might.
They learned Monday morning that they’ll be spending their Christmas contemplating the loss of some 30,000 jobs across North America – including at least 3,600 or more in Ontario.
Dave Renaud isn’t sure what will happen if the axe falls on his position in Oshawa.
“I think it's going to affect my children,” he muses. “I think I’m more worried about their future. I'm worried about this community. I'm worried about all the small feeder plants and the other businesses around that depend on this economy.”
Aaron Grand is a GM worker who sees a bleak road ahead. “There's a lot of shock in my office,” he admits. “They just thought it was a lot more severe than they expected.”
Those who live in car-reliant Oshawa know even those not in the direct carmaking business will have trouble putting a bandage on these deep cuts.
Insiders say that for every GM job, there are 7-spinoff jobs, for everything from making the dashboards to the seat to the foam inside the seat to the windshield. Do the math and the losses could be as high as 28,000 jobs.
Heather Russell works for a company that makes seats for GM cars.
"I'm out of a job," she shrugs. "I have to start job hunting. Within the next year, I have to start finding something else to do with my life."
C.A.W. president Buzz Hargrove spent weeks coming up with an agreement with the auto giant earlier this fall.
He knew GM was in trouble, but he’s perplexed by the extent of the job losses in Canada.
“I am shocked,” he admits. “It's devastating news for General Motors workers, their families and the communities like Oshawa and St. Catharines that are impacted by this, but also Windsor transmission will be impacted to some degree by the closures of assembly operations in the United States.
“The other group that is going to be incredibly impacted are the automotive parts suppliers … General Motors buys over half of the automotive parts manufactured in Canada … So this kind of decision ... will have a major impact on the automotive parts suppliers.”
He pledges to “fight like hell” to keep as many jobs as possible and vows this isn't a fait accompli.
“We will go to the government at both levels. We will keep talking to General Motors because if General Motors is going to restructure and get itself into a position of making a profit in North America, it's not a great strategy to start taking out of production some of your best operations.”
The new millennium seemed to start out with such promise for General Motors.
While gas wasn’t cheap, its line of SUV and trucks were on the upswing, reaching the positive side of the sales ledger. But it wasn’t to last.
Higher fuel prices, the encroaching of increasingly attractive and affordable foreign imports and incentive deals all started to eat into their bottom line.
A look at the company’s press releases throughout the last five years shows their sunny forecasts quickly turned to clouds of gloom.
1999 GM Canada delivered some 476,922 vehicles in this country, an increase of 11.3 percent over 1998, and a record sales year for the entire decade.
They sold nearly 260,000 cars and just over 217,000 trucks, both big increases from the year before.
2000 Still looking good. The company’s Canadian arm muscled up an incredible 50 percent increase in passenger car sales from 1998 and nearly 30 percent in trucks sales.
2001 Still on the rise, but a noticeable slowdown begins to creep in. GM Canada’s yearly car sales are up 6.4 percent while trucks accelerate to 17.5 percent.
"GM vehicle sales for the month were our highest December sales ever as GM dealers and retailers delivered more cars, pickups, sport-utilities, minivans and cross-over vehicles than any previous December,” crowed company V.P. Dick Conlin.
2002 The first big sign of trouble comes from the year’s overall assessment: sales of cars are down 14.2 percent from the previous year while truck sales shrank by almost 3 percent.
2003 A mixed bag as the slide continues. Car sales jump 14.5 percent, but trucks crash 18.5 percent. Overall vehicle delivery decreases 2.7 percent over 2002.
2004 Another reversal of fortune. Car sales drop by more than 17,000 units or 9.4 percent. Truck sales rebound 18.8 percent. But with last year’s losses, that rally puts them back where they were the year before.
2005 There’s lots of trouble in Motown North. A series of stateside hurricanes sends pump prices sky high. Gas guzzling SUVs become a lot less popular and GM feels the pain.
The company delivers nearly 30,000 fewer vehicles in October, an 11.1 percent decline from the previous month. Car sales here are down 5.2 percent while trucks feel the biggest descent, dropping 17.4 percent.
Things are even worse in the U.S. – some 12 percent fewer consumers are plunking money down for GM products there, and truck sales slam on the brakes at an alarming 30 percent.
As its Delphi auto parts business files for bankruptcy, some experts ponder what was once unthinkable - the bankruptcy of the world’s largest automaker.
It announces some 30,000 job cuts to try and staunch the bleeding, promising to return stronger than before. But for those about to lose their positions, it may be too late.
-- Edited by God at 16:20, 2005-11-22 
