GM lay-offs from Hell!

[marine2541]

A neighbor and friend of mine works as an interior designer for GM in Warren Michigan. A few weeks ago she told me that the windows in all of the conference rooms in the building were papered in preparation for massive lay offs begining the 21st of April. I spoke with her briefly this evening. For the last two days everyone she works with were told by their bosses to sit at their desks and wait to be tapped on the shoulder. When they are tapped, they go to a designated, papered-off conference
room; I assume to be let go. She is under tremendous strain. This is the cruelist, most sadistic thing I've heard in a long time! It's like waiting to be executed while your friends are taken one at a time before you and you hear each killing shot from a courtyard outside! Tomorrow is the last day of lay-offs. She only has eight more hours to avoid the sickening tap on her shoulder.

 

[marine2541]

A neighbor and friend of mine works as an interior designer for GM in Warren Michigan. A few weeks ago she told me that the windows in all of the conference rooms in the building were papered in preparation for massive lay offs begining the 21st of April. I spoke with her briefly this evening. For the last two days everyone she works with were told by their bosses to sit at their desks and wait to be tapped on the shoulder. When they are tapped, they go to a designated, papered-off conference
room; I assume to be let go. She is under tremendous strain. This is the cruelist, most sadistic thing I've heard in a long time! It's like waiting to be executed while your friends are taken one at a time before you and you hear each killing shot from a courtyard outside! Tomorrow is the last day of lay-offs. She only has eight more hours to avoid the sickening tap on her shoulder.

 

[john traveler]

It's rough on the people involved, but what do you expect? GMC has it's back to the wall, and it's run out of options.

I formerly worked for a division of GM, and we were partnered with to get a major Government contract and then SOLD to the partner company so GM could meet it's payments to retirees. The long GM downhill slide has been visible to anyone that cared to look and observe since the 1980s.

It's sad to see the what is left of the former mighty General Motors, but nothing more than big business evolution in process. The dinosaurs had to die off to make way for new life forms too.

 

[fat tom]

Sorry to hear it,but what's with the paper?
f.t.

 

[Bandersnatch]

the paper is so you can have some privacy when they destroy your life due to their own poor management skills.

 

[BarbC]

That's a cruel way to do it.

I've been through corporate layoffs and my husband has been through Ford layoffs. I hope your friend fares well.

 

[rburg]

I'm going to guess there is no nice way to do it. Everyone knows its coming. Some may dodge the bullet, but I'm not sure they're the lucky ones. There time will come, too.

My father worked for GM from the end of WWII until the Arab oil embargo in 1973. He was 62 that year, and it was easy for him and them. He just retired early so the other guy who did his job but was younger could stay. They made it easy, he was just told he would continue receiving his salary until he was 65, then go on retirement fully. He had a ton of vacation and sick time saved up, which was part of his deal.

Those GM employees who were eligible for a buyout and passed on it may not do as well as they hoped. Those who left and found other things to do may come out as the real winners.

GM just announced they may shut all or nearly all of their plants this summer. 9 weeks off, but the Union guys will get paid for it. Doesn't sound too terrible to me. And its probably why bankruptcy is a good alternative for them. Paying all those people for doing nothing to help the cause is just stupid. Sure, they've got a contract. One which a court could terminate. They can stand on principle and lose their jobs forever.

 

[S/W - Lifer]

A few days ago I saw a family selling their possessions on the side of the road. It was like a garage sale minus the garage, and it included their furniture.

This was the second or third time I've seen this in the last week or two. I got a very unsettling feeling as Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" came to mind.

These are indeed hard times for many, including General Motors employees.

 

[Bassamatic]

GM just announced they may shut all or nearly all of their plants this summer. 9 weeks off, but the Union guys will get paid for it. Doesn't sound too terrible to me. And its probably why bankruptcy is a good alternative for them. Paying all those people for doing nothing to help the cause is just stupid. Sure, they've got a contract. One which a court could terminate. They can stand on principle and lose their jobs forever.

So, if they have to pay the employees anyways...what's the point of the shutdown?

 

[fat tom]

There's one or two other expenses associated with building automobiles besides labor.
f.t.

 

[BarbC]

So, if they have to pay the employees anyways...what's the point of the shutdown?

When a UAW employee is laid off for a facility shutdown, they generally go on unemployment and also receive sub pay from the union itself, not the auto company. I think they receive altogether approximately 2/3 of their take-home.

 

[Racegunner]

So, if they have to pay the employees anyways...what's the point of the shutdown?

Designers and union laborers are two different things. Engineers, managers, etc....when they are done they are just done (unless they have some new system I don't know about).

I interviewed at the design center in Warren a few years ago. The interview process wasn't much better than the firing I suppose. You were brought in at the same time a group of other designers were, sat together in a waiting area and where called in one by one to a series of interviews by different people and a committee at one point. A couple guys worked somewhere else with each other and both gave the excuse of a doctors appt. to go to this interview. One was the other's manager. It was comical. At the time I worked for a supplier and my director and manager were from the design center. I asked them why GM interviewed like that, and was it to see how you deal with stress. They said, "no, they're just *******s!"
Ford runs a little better and it shows now I suppose.

 

[fas111]

Here is how it happened to me. I worked for the same Company for 27 years. The Company was acquired by another and we were all assured we would continue to have our jobs. The closing date was May 07, on Sept. 07 the CFO stopped into my office and asked if I had a minute. He sat down and said "Frank we would like to cut you loose by the end of the year". It was just him and I no HR rep present. He assured me I would receive one weeks severance for each year (27 weeks). I had to track down the HR Mgr and was told policy is a max of 26 weeks, I explained what I was told by the CFO and she simply told me he was wrong. End of discussion. The only good thing about the whole situation is the CFO was fired about 6 months later. By the way the whole manufacturing section was relocated to their Mexico plant. About 110 souls out of work.

 

[bk43]

When an auto worker is laid off, they traditionally keep getting paid by the company under what's called a jobs bank program. Ford, just a few weeks ago, won concessions from the UAW and one was that Ford no longer pays for the jobs bank for most UAW workers. I would think that GM and Chrysler will have the same concessions very shortly. By summer, when these plants close, GM will probably not be paying for the jobs bank of the idled UAW workers.

IMHO it doesn't matter because GM will be forced into bankruptcy court before then anyway.

Bob

 

[M29since14]

The long GM downhill slide has been visible to anyone that cared to look and observe since the 1980s.

Might as well make that the '70s. When the OPEC thing hit us in '73-'74, and the auto companies and U.S. government essentially did nothing, they sealed their own fates. Add to that their appalling disinterest in quality and leadership, and we have had a recipe for disaster, ever since.

I feel sorry for these folks. It is heartbreaking to watch the terrible results of this. But they have had the same opportunities to see it coming we all have. I hope they have managed to save some money. They're going to need it.

 

[oldRoger]

As a GM retiree (engineer), I was involved in many of these layoffs. In the new open office environment there is very little privacy, hence the papered up windows. I have read that 16,000 salaried will go. I think for most it will be permanent. The people actually giving others the bad news are very likely included in the lay-offs and know that they are included. No matter how hard you try there is no easy way to do this kind of thing.
In the past there has been some cushion, state unemployment, and a severance. Today??
Current management was not even born when most of the labor problems at the big three were cast in stone.
GM and Chryslers problems go way back to 1935 when they were forcibly unionized. By the time I started there in the early 60s almost all of the current problems were part of the UAW contract.
I know as a young hot-head that we (hot-heads) wanted to have top management take on the UAW over some of the onerous parts of the contract.
Given the support the UAW had in Washington, and the very astute tactics of the Reuther Brothers who kept the big three split, which ever company finally went to the mat with the UAW would have become history.

Now GM and Chrysler are not really companies they are large wealth transfer systems.Even if the companies made no cars and had no management, as fast as we the taxpayers sent them money they would have to cut checks for laid off and retired employees.

Washington has to keep sending them money or directly take on the retiree load.

Sort of reminds me of Social Security.
Roger.

 

[straightshooter1]

Roger, I don't understand your statement about "Washington has to keep sending them money or directly take on the retiree load."

If GM ends up completely flopped, are you saying the government would have to pay the retirees their pensions?


Bob

 

[BarbC]

If GM ends up completely flopped, are you saying the government would have to pay the retirees their pensions?

When the company I worked for declared bankruptcy, the UAW employees were transferred onto the PBGC, a federal corporation that insures pensions. The companies pay into it and if the company's pension fund goes bankrupt, the recipient gets a percentage of his pension.

From their website:

This information page is offered as a service to workers and retirees who have questions about their PBGC-insured benefits. The PBGC is not commenting on the future of U.S automotive companies or suggesting their pension plans will be assumed by the PBGC.

The current financial difficulties of U.S. car makers and auto parts companies have led to increased concern among their workers and retirees.

Each day, the PBGC hears from worried callers who ask, "Will my pension be safe?

The answer is, "Yes, up to certain limits."

The qualified defined benefit pension plans of the Big Three automakers and most of their principal suppliers remain ongoing and insured by the PBGC. If a company cannot maintain its underfunded pension plan, the PBGC will step in and take responsibility for the plan. The PBGC will pay all the plan’s benefit promises, up to certain limits set by Congress. These limits mean that some individuals, typically younger retirees, will see reduced benefits.

 

[Spotteddog]

Tell her not to worry.
They're working 24/7 on a "green job" to replace it with...

 

[oldRoger]

Straightshooter;
Yes, As Barb says the pension benefits are guaranteed by the PBGC. The PBGC is woefully under funded but backed up by the taxpayer.
In addition, the UAW has lots of what in political circles is called clout, so while the PBGC may not make the UAW retirees whole pension wise, congress will step in and do so.
The other big cost is for health care, principally between the 48 and Medicare ages, let’s say about 18 years. Many of these workers have not saved enough to pay for their own insurance so will in effect become wards of the state until 65. The states affected are principally Michigan, Ohio, and NY, with some other bit players, and are essentially broke also. Most observers think congress will bail them out as well.

IMO this problem is the reason GM and Chrysler have not declared bankruptcy yet. In fact the companies are bankrupt but our betters in congress are trying to figure out the best political approach to covering the costs.

This stalling has removed almost any chance the two had to recover.