GM will shut Janesville plant

[PeaceNikki]

:(

GM To Close Janesville Plant
General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner today said the GM plant in Janesville, Wisconsin will close by 2010, or sooner.

Banner on TMJ4 website. That's gonna hurt.


http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2008/jun/03/gm-will-shutter-janesville-plant/

General Motors was expected to announce today it will close its plant in Janesville in an effort to restructure production of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.

First-shift workers were to learn of the decision at an employee meeting this morning.

The Janesville plant, one of four GM plans to shutter, is scheduled to continue building Chevrolet Suburbans and Tahoes and GMC Yukon XLs and Yukons until December 2010. But whether the local plant lives that long is dependent on a large truck market that’s been hammered by high gas prices and other economic woes.

The Janesville plant employs about 2,400 hourly and 200 salaried workers. Earlier this year, GM announced plans to eliminate the second shift and 756 jobs in Janesville starting in July.

GM also was expected to announce today that it will close plants in Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario, and Toluca Mexico.

[HereSince1628]

1. That's a rosey bit of news for our recession.

Maybe Tata will buy it.

[PeaceNikki]

2. The loss of manufacturing and other blue collar jobs in this state is devastating.

I hope someone does something.

[HereSince1628]

3. We entered recession early, I expect we'll exit it late

I'm braced against the expectation of gas prices causing a really bad year for Wisconsin's vacation/tourism industry.

[sybylla]

4. Looks like we're going to get hit in a couple of sectors

you wouldn't expect. The only industry doing well is the banking industry and that's because most of them get off scott free on taxes.

[LiberalFighter]

10. Nov 81 to Aug 83 for me. Thank goodness I'm retired now.

[PeaceNikki]

5. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) issued the following statement:

"For generations, the people of Janesville have poured their heart and soul into General Motors and have proven to be an incredible asset for the company. GM should immediately take steps to ensure the continued success of the GM plant, including retooling the plant for new production lines. I will continue to work with Gov. Doyle, Sen. Kohl, Congressman Ryan, state and local officials, related businesses, and the leadership of GM to do all I can to support an ongoing and vital GM presence in Janesville. The people of Janesville have worked too hard for too long to deserve anything less."

[goddess40]

6. does he mean they should reinvest in their company instead of

giving all their profits to top management and shareholders - what a concept!

[Broca]

7. Unfortunately

that particular plant never evolved and specialized in vehicles that are increasingly obsolete. As in biology, if an organism is too specialized and the enviroment changes too quickly, it dies out. Albeit these were very high profit vehicles compared to compact and subcompact cars so hopefully the company recognizes the considerably past contribution to their profit margins.

[LiberalFighter]

11. Just for the record...

An assembly plant does not decide what product they make for the corporation. The corporation decides.

The Janesville plant was for a long time a car and truck assembly plant. They assembled mid sized vehicles before the early 80's.

[yourout]

8. Why is no one making mid sized hybrid trucks?

When a truck drives 100,000 miles a year 5 more miles per gallon makes a huge impact.

Seems like there is a big opportunity for GM if they got off their asses.

[AllyCat]

9. They sure do seem to be lazy, eh?

What a shame for the workers and the state. The writing has been on the wall for the last 5 years that this is where gas prices were headed. They should have fixed it, but opted for big money for those at the top. What a sorry state our economy is in. But it works well for the corporate fat cats.

[fudge stripe cookays]

12. It's not just GM that's hurting.

My cousin in Milton e-mailed me the other day. Her youngest son works at Lears. They make the seats for GM. When GM goes, they're probably done too.

I heard on NPR the other day that the workers in Oshawa barricaded the factory by parking trucks all around it, because evidently GM knew what they were doing when they came up with a collective bargaining agreement with the folks up there. Then, they promptly reneged and said they were closing the plant. Go Canadians! I'd love to actually see some labor disputes get ugly like they did in the 1890s, and have these corporate fucks see that they can't treat employees like garbage the way they are now.