General Motors to Fire 15% of Salaried Workers and Close 5 Plants

 Since becoming CEO in 2014 GM CEO Mary Barra has focused on "moving GM aggressively into emerging segments such as electrification and autonomous vehicles — costly technologies with unproven business models."

Continuing her plan to rightsize the company in anticipation of the next economic downturn GM announced it would shut down operations at plants in Detroit; Oshawa, Ontario; Warren, Ohio; White Marsh, Maryland; and Warren, Michigan.  

"GM's unions aren't happy, . . . . [t]he United Autoworkers union said it would fight the decision."

Wait a minute ! ! !

Poor old DonDiego recalls not all that long ago the United States Government bailed out GM at a cost to the taxpayers of approximately  $11.3 billion !

Apparently not money well spent, . . . just as DonDiego predicted at the time, as well as a bad precedent.

Anyway GM Redux will lead to a smaller, more efficient operation just as it should have done a decade or so ago.    

On the earlier bailout:

"The main purpose of the bailout was to save jobs at GM.  But GM had to slash its employment and production anyway.  Toyota and Honda continued to increase their US factories, providing jobs for American auto workers.   

If there had been no bailout, Ford, Toyota, and Honda would have picked up even more market share.  Since they had U.S. plants, they would have increased jobs for Americans once the recession was over. The loss of GM would [have been] like the loss of Pan Am, TWA, and other companies that had a strong American heritage but lost their competitiveness. It would have perhaps tugged at the heartstrings of America but not really hurt the economy. As a result, the auto industry bailout was not critical to the U.S. economy, like the rescue of AIG or the banking system."

ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS ! ! !

Ref: CNN 

        Auto Industry Bailout

They talk about investment in electric cars, but the rumour is the Volt may be one of the car lines they are cutting.

Ford is dropping their car lines; which I think is a big mistake

Indeed, the Volt is on the chopping block, . . . at least partly because the Federal Tax Credits are about to be reduced, . . . effectively raising the price.

"General Motors confirmed Monday morning that it plans to cease production of the Chevrolet Volt in March, as part of an effort to streamline production and pivot its business more toward zero-emissions and personal-mobility efforts. 

The Volt was the first production plug-in car sold in the U.S. when it went on sale in 2010, but has struggled with slow sales and high incentives recently as consumers have been inspired by pure electric models such as the Chevy Bolt EV and cars from Tesla.

Early next year, the Volt and Bolt EV are expected to face reduced federal tax credits as the automaker will reach its limit of 200,000 of the full $7,500 credits. Most of those have gone to buyers of the Volt, and the lack of credits is expected to have a negative effect on sales."

EDITED TO ADD:

On 28 February 2012 President Barrack Hussein Obama promised 1600 auto workers at a United Auto Workers union event in Detroit:

“Five years from now when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.”

DonDiego wonders if he kept that promise. 

What a great topic - and thanks for posting!

Thats right, the Chevy Volt is going away....because the electric battery technology has evolved to now allow cars to run over 200 miles with that alone making the Volt's additional gas tank  a no longer required accessory.   And you can thank the US government's investment in that technology for these new cars of the future which every car maker including GM is moving towards despite 10 years of moaning from the FOX News crowd about "duh, cant run no cars with no windmill, duh"   

People who try and make the point that electric cars are not the future are making that point directly in contrast to every car manufacturer on the planet.   

The old GM had several antiquated brands and tried to sell a wide array of vehicles that nobody wanted.    The new GM makes vehicles that are among the most reliable vehicles on the planet with high customer satisfaction ratings - including many of the sedans that are being discontinued.      They simply dont make money because people only want SUV and Trucks in America.    And their management is agile enough to take action.   Its truly unfortunate that people lose their jobs as a result - but would you rather have them follow the footsteps of the old GM and keep selling Oldsmobiles?

Oh, and regarding bailouts.   

I'm proud that America didn't surrender the auto industry to Japan and Korea in 2009 ....and so are Republicans when they campaign in Michigan (including Donald Trump).   When they are not campaigning they shoot off comments like some of our resident conservatives on this thread.   And voters who give a shit about workers should really make note of that.

In 2018 Republicans passed a national bailout of all corporations with borrowed money - which has been used overwhelmingly to buy back stock and increase investor returns.   It would appear to me Democrats got alot more bang for their buck in 2009.

I don't think the people holding the $27 billion in GM bonds that they defaulted on would agree.  They were the primary lienholders & the govt told them to bad 

"It would appear to me Democrats got alot more bang for their buck in 2009."

PJStroh writes: "I'm proud that America didn't surrender the auto industry to Japan and Korea in 2009."

Umm, . . . such surrender was not necessary.

The "most American automobile" is computed every year based upon domestic source of materials and labor.

The "most American automobiles" sold in the United States:

[In 2016] the most popular car that is assembled in the U.S. with the required percentage of domestic content is the Toyota Camry, Cars.com's annual survey shows.

The top five vehicles all come from Toyota or Honda.  After the Camry, the list includes the Honda Accord sedan, Toyota Sienna minivan, Honda Odyssey minivan and Honda Pilot SUV.

[For the record, Mrs. DonDiego drives a Toyota RAV4 manufactured in Ontario, Canada and DonDiego recently purchased a 2019 Honda Fit likely assembled in a plant somewhere between Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico.

Based upon DonDiego's experiences they make good stuff.

But nothing will ever top DonDiego's first car, . . . a 1971 Plymouth which he purchased new for $2500 in the Fall of 1971, . . . and got $800 for as a trade-in in 1986.]

Thats right, Tom, the goverment bailed out workers instead of investors.  I dont have a problem with that.   But if you prefer it the other way around then you got a great deal with the government bailouts of 2018 thats using trillions of borrowed dollars going forward to buy back corporate stock.   By the way - wasn't that suppossed to save jobs and pay workers more money?   

And the 2008 bailout wasnt simply for GM - it was for the entire rust belt parts manufacturing base throughout the Ohio river basin.    Thats why Ford was for bailing out a competitor even as they took nothing - because their parts manufacturers would have gone under too.   

And GM went from a company that hemoraged billions a year to a company that makes 10 billion in profit.   I guess thats DonDiego's definition of a failed restructuring.    

I dont know how much GM and all of its workers have paid in taxes since 2009 - buy I'm pretty sure it goes a long way to paying the remaining balance on the money they borrowed.     

And who are those bond investors?  Institutions such as mutual funds & pensions.  And who invests with these institutions - your guess

I am confused. Didn't Trump promise to not only save existing automotive jobs but to create thousands of new ones in Ohio and Michigan.  Was he lying?