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[roger_30]

Since I work for General Motors I wonder when my job will be vanishing along with thousands of others. Does anybody see GM making it into 2009? Do you think the UAW will step in and pull us out of this one?

[anthony_40]

I’ve got years of experience working in the auto industry and I honestly don’t see how I’m going to see retirement anytime soon. I think everybody is in a holding pattern unless Congress or some other company comes up with the money for GM to support itself for a little longer. And I don’t even know how well that will work either.

[paulo_t]

The United Auto Workers Union was great for getting a lot of things for the auto workers. But if you look at countries like Japan and Germany, they have no union and still do better than we do here in the US. I honestly wonder if there is anything the UAW can do now.

[Randy]

First, if anything at all makes my blood boil it's the suggestion that unions--any or all of them--are to blame for this current insanity.

Here in the south where unions hardly exist, we've seen upclose and personal what happens with the unchecked "private sector". Or better yet, I'll put it in the form of a question: Why do you think so many industries start up or move to the south? Any who says anything else other than "cheap labor" is lying, period.

I get positively engraged with people who want to fault employees, organized or not, for wanting all they can get for their time and labor while simultaneously NOT condeming the greed at the top. What we're seeing, finally, is what happens when the greed from the bottom meets the greed at the top, aren't we? And when greed is the prime motivating factor, you're left, by default, with bumbling fools, cretins, mediocrity, and incompetence at the top. And it is, like it or not, those at the top that have, quite frankly, f*d it up for everybody!

But now having said all that let me say this:

Where was all this outcry and wringing of hands and demand for "help" when, here in the south, the furniture and textile industries moved out and/or went belly-up? No one gave a damn. Hardly made the news ever here where it affected to many people. No, as is part of being southern, you takes your licks and get on with things.

So I can tell you this: People here in the south empathize greatly with y'all "up yonder". But you're not finding much sympathy, I can tell you that, and absolutely zero for the corporate types who have screwed you so badly.

Tell your bosses to have a garage sell and dump the corporate jets and the $20,000.00 conference tables, cut their own pay in half, and go back to building a basic car, you know, one that gets your from here to there and back. Leave out the stupid things like thousand-dollar stereo systems and heated seats and all the rest that serve no purpose whatsoever but to make for stupid and inane television commercials. And yes, that, too. Does any corporation really need to spend THAT much money to remind us that, oh, they built a new car?

Ain't it funny, in that pathetic sort of way, that a country that so boasts of its "Christian" heritage has forgotten two of the most fundamental teachings: "The love of money is the root of all evil" and "what a man reaps, he sows". Throw intangibles like religion and faith out the window and you're left with the pure science of "cause and effect".

The ceo's of all these companies, acting as they must in their own self-interest and that of those equally as greedy shareholders/stockholders have, within just my lifetime, run this country into the damned ground.

And then to have the very nerve to turn TO the goverment for help, the same government that they've been paying off for years to "leave us the hell alone 'cause we have to make money"--to do that is an insult to every single working American in this country.

I wish all of you--the working men and women--nothing but the best. But again, with all due respect, I hope the greedy bastards who caused all this lose absolutey everything and have to flip hamburgers for the rest of their lives.

[ruth]

Unlike the time when General Motors bought up Delphi as it went bankrupt, the UAW can’t just step in and negotiate benefits for workers about to be laid off. There’s no one for them to bargain with. And if GM is hemorrhaging money as fast as they say, there’s no knowing if any pensions, severance packages or unemployment coverage will have stability.

[ruby_r]

I honestly wouldn’t wait for GM, I’d pack up and get to another state or city where there are still jobs. Don’t plan on your career being there if they are talking survival mode for Ford and GM. Even if the auto companies do go into bankruptcy, half the jobs there are gone. Find another career and get moving as fast as you can.

[Tybias]

There is talk of a Chinese group looking at funding to buy up GM or Chrysler. I know it would be really odd to see China owning a big American auto maker but what other choice would they have? I’d rather see GM stay American, but if it means my job, then I’ll work for the Chinese as long as they’re willing to pay me what I get now.

[andrew_t]

If the UAW holds to what they’ve done before, hourly workers could manage to walk away with at least some money. The last time, workers with ten or more years with GM got a $140,000 payment while workers under ten years got $70,000. But that’s when GM had money. And those guys lost their healthcare and post-retirement benefits. I don’t see GM workers keeping anything this time either.

[roger_30]

That was when they bought Delphi. Now they’re selling off stuff. What I’m worried about is if there will be any money left over for the employees after the layoffs we all know are coming.

[liz_t]

Don’t wait. I just said this in another forum with a British guy. If you know the end is coming, get out now. Tune up the resume, start job hunting and honestly consider moving if you need to. At least you are aware that your job is most likely gone, you have advance warning. Take the time and get a head start with it.