[SierraGS]

Originally Posted by big3worker

I am a 31 year gm hourly employee and I have seen alot of the problems over the years that has brought gm to where we are today, from mismanagement to the union taking advantage of management.

From the management side
1) buying out roger smith bad management
2) paying ross pero to shut up and go away bad management
3) buying fiat and selling at a huge loss bad management ect. ect.

now from the union side
1) when I hired in 1978 things were good but what happened is gm overstaffed I can remember from 1978 to early 1990's at the start of the work day they would get the line covered and running and about an hour into the shift they were coming around asking who wanted to go home, because they had extra help 2-3 people per dept. day in day out, at that time the union and management must not have realized that they were creating huge legacy costs with all that extra manpower for that i blame both party's.
2) this one really erks me how many of you people had a neighbor or a relative who worked at a parts plant doing piece work ? so many parts a day and your done, for years at these facility's you had people who would get there work done and they would go home and mow there lawn or play golf and there boss would punch them out who was at fault union or management ? I say both, people get away with what they are allowed to get away with. and my last scenerio is this
3) we would have a tool break down we would call out skilled trades and they would tell us they could not fix it it was weekend work, and you would call out the supervisor and he or she would tell you the same thing WHY ? because they wanted to make there time and a half and double time ALSO!! how much money was spent during those times 70's 80' 90's ? the answer a ton this is why the auto industry is in trouble because im sure what i saw at GM was happening at Ford and Chrysler as well.

now as for a solution, the bailout, if the senate wants to open the contract with the UAW here is where they should start ( DO NOT CUT OUR WAGES ) My monthly bills are based on 40 hrs at my current wage but I am willing to give up some holidays and vacation time, lets start here we get almost 10 weeks of per year paid and if you do not use your vacation you get paid an additional 5 weeks in january there are alot of people who do not use there vacation and double dip that is a ton of money. x number of employees times 1 - 5 weeks paid out in january is very expensive. Change the contract to force people to use vacation USE IT OR LOSE IT!!!! this would save the auto company's a ton, also lets take away the extra holidays such as election day, week at christmas,veterans day , week in july, this would be better than cutting wages in half if you cut our wages in half we will need to have to ask for help with our mortgages and other expenses that are based on 40hrs @ our current wage.

does this make sense?????

Thanks for some rational input and some good ideas, my proposal to the UAW and "Big 3" management is a 10% wage cut for hourly/salary and 50% cut for top management which I think is needed (or something close to it) and this would save over $1 billion a year assuming an avg wage of $25 @ hr (225,000 x 2.50 x 2080 = 1.17 Billion for just hourly/salary). Not sure what the exact number would be for a 50% cut in top management but it would be in the multi-millions and should bring total savings close to $2 Billion annually.

I did not think of giving up vacation time and it would only be a 10% reduction for those with 208 hours (5.2 weeks) vacation and it sounds like a sizable percentage may fit this making it something to consider (bear in mind that even though you are "working through your vacation" it does not come out of the same "bucket" as wages for the accountants)

Do not get me wrong I am not out to slash wages when I am sure there are many workers would find it difficult to make ends meet but of course these are difficult times and it is better to keep a job/benefits rather than lose them.

Hopefully something will be presented, there is one thing for certain - "givebacks" are going to have to be offered for any deal.

Glad you brought up mortage payments as many "economic experts" seem to have no memory and have lost the ability to read since they do not understand if 1 - 3 million workers lose their jobs there will be well over 500K MORE foreclosures which will re-ignite the cause of our current finacial meltdown.

Hope you and your co-workers make it through this.