Auto Workers At GM Plant In Kansas City Go On Strike - Malibu Production Halted

[paddyk]

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascit...05/daily1.html

[steinravnik]

Not good...

[psece]

I wonder if the UAW's strategy was to agree to the Nationwide Contract full of concessions but then go after GM with the local contracts and supplier contracts. I really worry that the last bastion of the American Manufacturing is on its way out....

[redfox]

If i was GM i would move the Malibu production to an other plant and close the Kansas City plant and say stick it UAW.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by redfox

If i was GM i would move the Malibu production to an other plant and close the Kansas City plant and say stick it UAW.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. Not quickly enough to matter, anyway. It would be nice if the lines were flexible enough to build any mid-size, or any truck, or any crossover. One day, but not yet.

PS, what's going on with American Axle? I thought they were expecting a deal to have been reached by last weekend. I guess not.

[pontiacjs]

Our taxes would go down if we brought over Teachers from india to educate our children. They would gladly work for half the cost and probably do a better job.

[rozz]

It looks like UAW wants to kill GM!

[Hurricane]

Very sad and short-sighted...

[BGH]

I heard the Oshawa plant is considered a flexible manufacturing plant. How long would it take GM to get it ready to produce a car like the Malibu? I know Honda takes about 3 months to switch product between its plants.

[Hurricane]

Is this the only plant that produces the Malibu?

[spaz]

i think they also build it at orion with the G6

[tgagneguam]

A GM plant in Delta Township near Lansing that makes strong-selling crossover vehicles went on strike April 17, and other UAW locals in Wyoming and Warren, Mich., and Mansfield, Ohio, are negotiating. They say the will give GM 12-hour notice if they plan to strike.

Industry analysts have speculated that the UAW is trying to pressure GM to coax American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. into ending a bitter nine-week strike.

GM accounts for 80 percent of American Axle's parts business. About 3,600 UAW workers at five American Axle plants have been on strike since Feb. 26. Negotiations are continuing and progress has been reported.

If this is the motive for the strike, and not the seniority issue, as the local UAW office is suggesting, then I think this kind of behavior reinforces the negative stereotypes that UAW members live with. In that sense, it seems deserved.

In the mean time, Toyota, Nissan and Honda will gladly fill unsold Malibu orders. Sad that the UAW is doing this to their members, and members gladly follow. When the UAW claims it has leverage, it may with GM specifically, but it has long since lost its leverage in the industry.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by rozz

It looks like UAW wants to kill GM!

They do. Or at least the CAW does and I don't see any difference between the two. I've posted on here and other forums many times the quote from CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley when he stated "General Motors is the enemy, brothers and sisters." His local represents the Oshawa plant. They would rather shut down the companies that they work for than give and inch. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

If this is the motive for the strike, and not the seniority issue, as the local UAW office is suggesting, then I think this kind of behavior reinforces the negative stereotypes that UAW members live with. In that sense, it seems deserved.

In reality, if they were a true brotherhood, all of the plants recieving the re-directed axles from Mexico would go on strike and refuse to build them. Then how fast would the strike pay coffers of the UAW be emptied?

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

In the mean time, Toyota, Nissan and Honda will gladly fill unsold Malibu orders. Sad that the UAW is doing this to their members, and members gladly follow. When the UAW claims it has leverage, it may with GM specifically, but it has long since lost its leverage in the industry.

The UAW still thinks it's the 1930s or '40s. Ya know, back when they were relevant and purposeful. Back before the global economy and harsh competition from global competitors.

[paddyk]

GM spokesman Dan Flores said that the auto maker is "disappointed" that UAW Local 31 took the action, but that the company's focus is to continue bargaining to reach an agreement "as soon as we can."

GM also produces Malibus at its plant in Lake Orion, Mich. That plant also makes the Pontiac G6.

Asked if GM could increase Malibu production at the Lake Orion plant, Flores said, "We're going to look at all of our options." But he added, "The priority and focus of our energy is on Fairfax and resolving the dispute there."