Drive GM or park elsewhere, (GM) workers told - CBC

[Screaming Lord Byron]

April Fool? God, I hope so.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/04/01/canada/parking_lot040401

ST. CATHARINES, ONT. - People who work at a General Motors plant in St. Catharines, Ont., soon won't be able to use the main parking lot unless they drive a GM vehicle.

This is the first move of its kind for a GM plant in Canada, though some of the car maker's facilities in the U.S. have similar policies.

Starting Monday, hourly employees driving cars and trucks made by other manufacturers will have to park in a smaller lot south of the components plant or risk having their vehicles towed.

[mikey_1962]

1. This used to be the policy at ALL GM plants, stopped in the 70's

looks like they are starting it up again.

May have something to do with the sagging sales and the new engine plant in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico. St Catherines used to ship engines there....

[blackcat77]

3. I worked at GM in the 70s

There was no "non-GM" policy but there was one about Japanese cars. Not an offical one, but if you drove one to work, you could expect four flat tires when your shift was done.

[SemperEadem]

19. well, a couple of well placed cameras at the parking lot

should be able to identify anyone stupid to mess with anyone's car. Blustering, pridefilled idiots do not have the right to tell anyone what they can drive and where they can park. If they have a problem with someone driving something other than a GM car, then they need to get into therapy. There are more pressing matters one's attention should be on than having an hysterical fit over what car someone else drives.

[Sparky McGruff]

50. I drove a late 70's GM, and a mid 80's GM...

And the "four flat tires" would have been the least expensive problem I had with those heaps of junk.

I inherited the '86 Chevy Cav Z24 (a nice car, on the surface) from my mom, after the steering locked up on her as she was exiting the freeway. It "released" before she drove off the road, fortunately. The GM dealer said that the almost new car had nothing wrong, and she decided she would never drive it again. Turns out there was a known problem with the power steering, but the dealer didn't want to repair it until it was out of warranty. Then, the paint started peeling off. By 30,000 miles it was a pathetic pile of garbage.

My 4 cylinder Toyota RAV still gets at least 25 MPG on the freeway, with 110,000 miles under its belt.

I will never buy a GM as long as I live. If someone GAVE me a GM, I'd sell it as fast as I could. Ford, maybe (had decent luck with Ford trucks, but the milage sucks). But never, never, never, never, never, never, never ever will I own a GM.

[TahitiNut]

4. As a former GM employee in the 60's and 70's ...

... I can confidently say this was an 'attitude' not a 'policy'. GM vehicles were never more than about 70-75% of those found in the employee parking lots where I worked.

[booksenkatz]

2. Not too much to ask

I used to work for a major candy company and I'd catch hell from my boss when he'd see me eating candy from a competitor! Especially since we had a closet full of free samples right there in our office. But I wasn't craving any of THAT, I wanted the OTHER stuff! Grass is always greener on the other side.

My dh works for one of the Big Three, I don't think it's too much to ask to support the company you work for. Or if you're going to buy foreign, don't drive it to work, leave it at home!

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Maybe not much to ask for candy

but for a durable item that lasts for years, and costs thousands, like a car, this is less reasonable. If you already have a competitor's car when you start work at GM, you either spend shed-loads of cash to replace your car, or have to park in a worse place.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. If they want to do this they can arrange trade-in deals for workers.

That would seem a little fairer.

[Holly]

13. Well, they do

As a member of the GM/CAW we may purchase GM vehicles at almost cost. Buy the cars your neighbours help to build, and if you work at GM..buy the cars. GM Canada produces the world's best product Chevs, Buicks,Pontiacs and Trucks, and we're proud of the this! The worst offenders work at the engineering building in Oshawa..Jeez we design these cars here, and they don't even drive them.
If your going to drive another companies product, park it some place else.....and enjoy your walk to work!

[Florida_Geek]

15. A one time some of the "others" were paid for

by the manufacturer, I know Ford did this. They even brought the gas. Not a bad idea to see what the others were doing.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Fair enough

the workers could do OK out of it then - it looks a reasonable policy.

[Occulus]

23. If you don't like it

maybe you should buy them one. After all, it's not all that great a hardship, is it?

Corporate personhood has got to stop.

[ender]

46. no offense...

but the incentives that gm gives their /employees/ are absolutely incredible.

you would have to be an f'ing idiot to pass up the deal.

lets put is this way: if you are an employee of gm, and drive to work, it is *far* more cost effective to buy a car with the incentives that your employer is giving you.

[Holly]

49. Well said

picking up my new Monte Carlo tomorrow...yah! Locally built in Oshawa too. Gotta keep the my family and friends working.

[LiberalFighter]

41. Same here...

We have management/salary that drive our competitors.

As a union member we encourage our members to drive union made vehicles and that could include Ford and Chrysler. But, in reality our members do a disservice to the local and the company by buying other than the company vehicles.

I would wonder whether an employee would have the best interest of the company and fellow employees if they owned something other than a GM vehicle. They might not have a vested interest in producing quality vehicles.

[SharonAnn]

47. I love my Regal Grand Sport - built in Canada

This is my second one. They've both been great cars.

[Holly]

48. Thank you

we are very proud of all the products that are built here.

[okieinpain]

20. don't work there!!! friends at the okc planet told me about this

10 years ago.

[Katarina]

9. So in following your line...

If you work at Wal-Mart, you should ONLY shop there. If you work at Burger King, don't go to MacDonalds? Where does it stop?

Just because someone works someplace should not dictate every other aspect of their life. It's a job.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. I work at a cellphone operator

And many people use other operators. One even changed from "our" operator to another while working here (because they were giving up free phones). And no one said a thing.

[booksenkatz]

18. I'm just saying...

show some support, that's all. I suggested in my prior post that an employee might want to leave the foreign job at home and drive the company car to work. I didn't say not to buy a foreign job at all. My husband's company gives us astounding breaks on car purchases and leases, it would be silly to claim we couldn't afford to drive a car made by his company.

If you work at Wal-Mart, do at least some portion of your shopping there. If your company does well financially, it helps to ensure your own job security. If it's too shitty a company to shop at, then why work there? If GM cars are too shitty to drive one yourself, then why work there? It makes no sense to work for a company to ensure its success, if in fact you don't want it to be successful. Why waste your time, or the company's time?

Maybe I'm just too old-fashioned and too loyal. I always have supported the companies I work for as much as I can, maybe not EXCLUSIVELY, but certainly if I work for them, they warrant my support. What's good for my company is ultimately good for me. If I don't like them, or if they adopt policies I disagree with, I stop taking their money and go elsewhere.

[AGD4y2357y]

36. Support?

Sorry - my employer doesn't have the right (unless the repubs have changed it and I didn't notice) to require me to shell out thousands of dollars on something THEY make in order to come to work with out hardship and/or fear of something happening to my other thousand dollar purchase that doesn't happen to be made by them.

I don't call that "support" - I call that extortion, a felony if I'm not mistaken.

"If it's too shitty a company to shop at, then why work there? "

HAHAHA. Oh wow. The logic is great. Maybe you haven't seen the economy recently? Yea, WHY would someone be working a shitty job these days? I mean, its not like you can't just go get a new one on whim. Yea, what's wrong with those people? Don't want to pay your wal-mart masters back what little they pay you in "support", just go get a new job!

"Maybe I'm just too old-fashioned and too loyal....What's good for my company is ultimately good for me"

Go get your self a history book on labor rights in this country and go read.

"If I don't like them, or if they adopt policies I disagree with, I stop taking their money and go elsewhere."

Too bad millions of people in this nation don't have that option right now.

[okieinpain]

27. well for gm I can see there point, not a good sign if their

parking lot is full of nissans, hondas, and toyotas.

[U2Shark]

7. Nothing new here

This policy never really went away in Michigan at the plants.

[lumpy]

8. Riduculous

Who gives a damn except the Ceos. Reminds me of when I worked for a bank. Reprimanded if you didn't join their stupid Xmas Club and campaigned for the Democrats.

[doc03]

10. GM has no problem buying steel from China made by non-union

slave labor, no environmental or labor laws. When they had the steel tariffs in place GM was whining about the prices of imported steel going up. "SCREW THEM AND UAW"

[Deere_John]

14. I'd have to agree....

This is nothing more than GM using it's muscle in a sucky labor market to coerce a few extra sales. Says a lot about their attitude toward their workers.

[seaglass]

11. If the lot is too far away and they offer a shuttle service, I

don't think this is unreasonable. They're not telling the employees they have to buy GM, just that they're not advertising their competitors products in the main parking lot.

Offering discounts on vehicles to employees would be a good idea too.

[LiberalFighter]

42. Parking lots are usually not a problem... just a slight inconvenience

GM employees/family have good discounts for GM vehicle purchases.

Financial is not a legitimate excuse for not buying.

[captain jack]

16. What!

Another example of a corporation biting the hands that make them. I hope that these employees will refuse and resist this policy. It's hard enough to work for a corporation that sends it's jobs out of countries to the cheapest hands it can find, showing clearly that it could care less about it's workers. And to condemn them by the type of car they drive leaves me to wonder, is the question of loyalty being focused in the right direction on this one? Why not tell G.M. to get some loyalty for a change?

[SemperEadem]

21. the question is coersion.. no better than buying protection

from the mob...

It's against the law to destroy property which doesn't belong to you.Only criminally minded people do that.

[KG]

22. worked at pizza hut once. no coke! pepsi!

drinking coke products in the store was frowned upon.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

24. Personally, I don't see why GM would bother with this.

Who's looking at their car parks anyway? All this does is undermine workforce moral with no appreciable gain.

[Stuckinthebush]

26. Exactly - they will lose no matter how they play this

Piss off employees, piss off community members, piss off potential customers. What is the reasoning here? Surely they don't think that having non GM cars in the lot would somehow affect their sales.

[Spirochete]

25. All the while, GM strives to reduce parking lot crowding

by laying off workers in large groups. Loyalty is always a one-way street with these corporations, isn't it?

[Bridget Burke]

28. Do the executives use the "Main" lot?

Or do they have special reserved parking? Certainly, no executive would dare to show up in a Lexus, Mercedes or BMW!

[Holly]

29. LOL, the executives

get a new car every six months...it's a job perk....and yes, it's a GM car.

[Bridget Burke]

30. Good for them!

Guess wifey can drive the import....

[Holly]

31. Or the wifey

might be the exec...and her husband can drive the import.

[MrTriumph]

32. Azteks, Cimmarons, Oldsmobiles, Escalades

Hey there should be special parking spots for some of GM's products somewhere!

[Holly]

33. Azteks

should be hidden in the back, far, far, far from view, IMO
Not GM's finest work.

[eeyore]

34. Many companies do this

I used to work at <gasp!> Nike, and we were told upon hire that it was considered a CLM (Career Limiting Move) to wear a competing brand's sportswear to work. They did, however, have an employee store that offered significant discounts on their products. I was actually freelance, and didn't really care what they thought - I really don't like the design of Nikes. I wore some Simples to work often, and every now and again would catch shit from the lifers. I was not about to drink the Kool-Aid and get a Swoosh tatoo.

eeyore

[AGD4y2357y]

38. Not surprising

I would expect no less from a company so concerned with human rights.

[LiberalFighter]

43. I don't buy anything with the swoosh

including other clothing that uses it for advertising. Why should I pay extra to advertise for swoosh on a non-swoosh product?

[AGD4y2357y]

35. I can NOT believe

that Dems of all people don't have a problem with this.

Company store anyone? Not so long ago your employer could REQUIRE you work for them and BUY from them. Buying soap? Best be from the company store. Buying food? Best be from the company store. Buying something the company makes? Best be company brand. What does that mean to the employer? They pay you and you PAY THEM back every dime they just gave you. Nice system... if you're a rich bastard. Almost like slave labor.

Believe it or not this USED to be policy in this country before union members fought and suffered to change it.

<sigh> I'm sure this will be part of the repub platform before long, and once again no one will have a problem with it.

[Holly]

39. Union solidarity

that's what this is all about. This isn't about big, bad GM imposing their will on the worker, but Union workers attempting to protect their jobs. This idea was an employee driven action. To understand "why" the autoworkers wanted this you must understand the history of this Plant.
Two years ago this Plant almost closed. Through hard bargaining the union reached an agreement with GM to keep a small shift, a good retirement incentive, and transfer rights for the remaining workers to Oshawa. Those workers who transferred to Oshawa have been traveling 3 hours each way on a bus, five days a week. They leave at 3:30 a.m and get home around 6-7:00 p.m.! These men and women have over 20 years seniority at GM, and did this so they wouldn't loose there pensions. It has been a horrible strain on their personal and family lives. Six months ago the St. Catherine's plant was awarded a new contract and production was increased. Many people have been recalled to the St. Catherine's Plant from Oshawa.
These workers understand the consequences of poor sales,and have experienced the stress of Plant closure. They are making a statement here. Strong sales and building a good product keeps union jobs. Union autoworkers should only buy cars that are built by other union workers. If you want to buy the competitors product, a product that does nothing to protect THEIR jobs, park in the back. It's a statement by people fighting to protect their jobs, GM jobs, Union jobs.

[doc03]

45. If this is union solidarity

Why don't the UAW refuse to build cars with non-union steel that is imported from such places as China, were there are no workers rights,
environmental laws and slave labor wages. About 20 years ago when the auto industry was hurting from imports the USWA tried to discourage us
from buying foreign cars. I for one could care less now if I buy a car made in the USA or not. Why should we pay our money for a American car so the UAW can have good wages and benefits, while us steelworkers have lost ours because you build cars from imported steel.

[AGD4y2357y]

37. Can't wait to see phase 2 of the little extortion scheme

Since phase 1 is so mafia-ish phase two can involve sending employees a flyer saying

"Congratulations! You've just supported the company by buying a new GM car, while at the same time insuring no "accidents" might occur while your non-GM car was parked.

Now that you've "supported" the company by buying a new car, support the company again by buying new GM home security protection! Only 20% of your wage! We protect you from... well, you know... us."

[DiverDave]

40. I'll buy what I damn well please.

Who is gonna stop me?
A bunch of goons?
Nope, if I like something, and I buy it, it ain't NOBODIES friggen business.
Period.

[Enjolras]

44. Local plants here doing the same

My brother works at a Daimler-Chrysler plant here in Ohio, and it has instituted the same policy for workers driving non-Chrysler products. He complains like hell (He drives a Chevy truck) and blames the "morally and ethically challenged" crooks he works for, though even he will admit that the UAW Local is totally in support of the idea. I think Holly had it right, a few posts above. Unions in general, and especially high-wage manufacturing unions, are embattled more than ever now. All things considered, given the ever-growing threat of globalization, buying your company's products to express confidence in them isn't too much to ask to keep such coveted manufacturing jobs a couple more years.