GM invest millions in their Flint plant.

**Whitehouse** · July-19-11, 12:53 PM

Great news for a hard hit community.

**Detroitnerd** · July-19-11, 01:04 PM

Too bad the new hires aren't making as much as the old-timers. GM is going with a 40-60 mix of news and olds, right? That should boost profits for them. Then they'll plead poverty when the negotiations begin again. Same old story...

**bailey** · July-19-11, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Too bad the new hires aren't making as much as the old-timers. GM is going with a 40-60 mix of news and olds, right? That should boost profits for them. Then they'll plead poverty when the negotiations begin again. Same old story...

No, "the same old story" would be GM closing a plant here to either discontinue the product line because it was unprofitable or to move the production somewhere else where labor costs are lower. Welcome to the 21st century. Wages are no longer determined by the UAW in a vaccum but the world market's price of labor.

**Detroitnerd** · July-19-11, 02:22 PM

No, the same old story is the haves vs. the have-nots. Although foreshortening your memory for political purposes is a neat trick. Oh, well. I'll leave that magic to you.

By the way, the company always signed off on those union contracts. You do know that, right? Or were they union impostors?

Think you understand the 21st century? You may have to think again before it's through.

**Mikeg** · July-19-11, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

......Too bad the new hires aren't making as much as the old-timers.....

By the way, the union signed off on those union contracts. You do know that, right? Or were they company impostors?

**Detroitnerd** · July-19-11, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

By the way, the union signed off on those union contracts. You do know that, right? Or were they company impostors?

Yup. Gettelfinger signed off on them to save the company. Funny. I thought union leaders existed only to destroy the company they worked for, right? Perhaps you'd have liked that better? As it turns out, they wound up sacrificing to a company that then got to write off $10 billion in liabilities and come out more profitable than ever. So the union got yanked, right? Oh, well. Let's not look at that.

**mjb3** · July-19-11, 05:53 PM

I thought after the strike of 1997, GM was sending message to Flint. No more investment in plants with aggressive UAW locals[[like the sitdowners). I thought GM was going to reward their other regions where the locals have real flexible rules[[Lansing, Arlington).

I guess the Flint locals have come around, or GM is just feeling sorry for them and throwing investment their way

**Det_ard** · July-19-11, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

Yup. Gettelfinger signed off on them to save the company. Funny. I thought union leaders existed only to destroy the company they worked for, right? Perhaps you'd have liked that better? As it turns out, they wound up sacrificing to a company that then got to write off $10 billion in liabilities and come out more profitable than ever. So the union got yanked, right? Oh, well. Let's not look at that.

The UAW agreed to the new deal in order to save their union, not to save the company. It just so happens that the union is dependent on the company's existence for their own existence so the company had to survive, but that's just part of a typical parasite-host relationship.

The UAW got a far better deal than they would have in a normal restructuring. Absent Obama's political backscratching the sucessor to GM would have been union-free. The union retirees got a sweetheart deal as well while bondholders got screwed. Well, that's politics, stuff happens.

If you announced GM was hiring in Flint at $14/hour the line for applications would go all the way to Saginaw. There's no reason to pay $28/hour for $14 [[or, market-based, $10/hour) work.

You know, its nice to see the auto companies making some money for a change. It bodes well for our region. I wouldn't put it past the union however to be so aggressive in their demands that they eventually kill GM a second time. While their product is getting better, companies like Hyundai have excellent product and are underpricing GM and gaining share. Return to the old UAW ways and kiss our Detroit-based auto companies bye-bye.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-20-11, 12:09 AM

Originally Posted by Det_ard

The UAW agreed to the new deal in order to save their union, not to save the company. It just so happens that the union is dependent on the company's existence for their own existence so the company had to survive, but that's just part of a typical parasite-host relationship.

The UAW got a far better deal than they would have in a normal restructuring. Absent Obama's political backscratching the sucessor to GM would have been union-free. The union retirees got a sweetheart deal as well while bondholders got screwed. Well, that's politics, stuff happens.

If you announced GM was hiring in Flint at $14/hour the line for applications would go all the way to Saginaw. There's no reason to pay $28/hour for $14 [[or, market-based, $10/hour) work.

You know, its nice to see the auto companies making some money for a change. It bodes well for our region. I wouldn't put it past the union however to be so aggressive in their demands that they eventually kill GM a second time. While their product is getting better, companies like Hyundai have excellent product and are underpricing GM and gaining share. Return to the old UAW ways and kiss our Detroit-based auto companies bye-bye.

I agree, you can say what you want about Obama, but he saved this country from really going into a economic tailspin, worse than now. What if GB stayed around a bit longer?? Good post.