GM offers buyouts to skilled workers

[OlympicBrian]

Source: MarketWatch

Employees, many of which work at plants slated to be closed or already shuttered, have until Dec. 23 to take the deal. GM currently employees about 10,000 skilled trade workers in the United States.
...
In fact, Chief Executive Dan Akerson, clearly feeling the wind at his back, made his case last week to boost the salaries of some of GM’s top executives in order to avoid losing some of the company’s key people.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gm-offers-buyouts-to-skilled-workers-2010-12-14?dist=afterbell

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When your employees are largely in China, etc., you want to shake loose even more jobs in the US...

[arcane1]

1. "boost the salaries of some of GM’s top executives" ...

"in order to avoid losing some of the company’s key people. "

Yeah, those "key" people did such a great fucking job!

[OlympicBrian]

2. The "key people" aren't the 10,000 skilled trade workers? nt

[arcane1]

3. Exactly!!!!

Yeah, it's the top key executives who actually, you know, MAKE the cars! :crazy:

[sarcasmo]

4. Kick out the 20 plus dollar an hour workers and hire 10 dollar an hour workers.

Third world country.

[michreject]

9. They have to get equitable with the Japanese automakers wages

Because so many people just loves them some non union vehicles. Just drive by a school parking lot.

[sarcasmo]

12. Union family here, I get what you are saying.

[Booster]

5. Not so long ago people would jump at a chance for a buyout,

but I'm not so sure now. I took a sweet buyout deal in 2005 and I'm ok, but my best friend is 68 and still working so she can help her family get by. Sad.

[Newest Reality]

6. Time and time again

we hear about who is actually valued and considered talented in these strongly hierarchical organizations.

The higher the level of abstraction that you function at determines your validity and importance. That means the more you can manipulate symbols, (words, ideas, etc.) and people the more you are compensated. It is logical that job one would be to underscore, exaggerate and ingrain the idea that you, and others have an inflated status and are so very valuable above and beyond the worker bees.

If we were to consider a hypothetical, the workers who actually do stuff for far lower pay would be more likely to survive and function without many, if not all, of the higher-ups, (especially after the original formulation of a company). We could imagine a company with nothing but managers and executives and how much would be accomplished in that scenario. Workers could resort to situational management in this case. The higher-ups would have to stop controlling, commanding and directing things, roll-up their sleeves and end-up being workers.

The value and priorities are more obvious from that perspective. The middle-class is largely in a position between owners and workers when they function as mid-level managers and the like. They serve to execute the power and control from the Owners and command more pay for the dirty work. This puts them in a position, regardless of how they might empathize with the people who actually do practical tasks, of justifying and preserving their place and necessity in the pyramid of inequity.

[Faith No More]

7. Would somebody please tell me why

we bailed these ungrateful bastards out? They didn't learn a thing. Their arrogance is beyond belief.

[Kolesar]

10. to save my job

My employer sells a lot to the Big 3

[LiberalFighter]

8. We or at least I and few others thought that it was because of those top GM executives

that GM was poorly run. They come up with lame brain ideas. And they fire or encourage others to leave and then replace them with recent college graduates that don't have a clue about manufacturing.

[Kolesar]

11. employees are largely in China? Got any data to support that??

any time