More manufacturing jobs lost.

[Gavin Allan]

Chrysler Group will reduce the number of employees by 13,000.



Most folks don't know about or consider the thousands of jobs that will also be eliminated at Tier I and II supplier companies as a result of the assembly plant closings. Many of these jobs are very good-paying jobs that will be gone forever.



We are witnessing a considerable change in the US economy and the end of an era that helped make our country strong.

 

[Fred]

We are witnessing a considerable change in the US economy and the end of an era that helped make our country strong.

You're right, Gavin and the sad thing is that it seems that many Americans seem to enjoy this fact as much as America's 'enemies' do. :angry:

 

[Jose Santana]

Capitalism is great but profit it all costs is not good!!!! Not that this fits the bill but, the whole

shipping of jobs overseas to bring the profit margins down is great for shareholders but to Americans it is doom! It is happening more and more.... Too many Americans keep squawking about the immigrants taking jobs.... Although it may be true it overshadows the more imminent threat and that is big corporations shipping good paying jobs out of the country.

------ and municiple and government Unions



Joseymack

 

[Jake Levin]

Chrysler may not be around much longer...

 

[Johnny O]

At some point companies will realize that they are essentially laying off their customers, but by then it will be too late.

 

[Rodger Tellefson]

I heard their employees called it the Valentines Day massacre.

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

Yep, progress and automation suck. Just ask buggy-whip manufacturers about when the car came into being.



What's better? Laying off 13,000 people now and saving the company or everyone losing their job when the company folds?



If you wanna bitch about manufacturing jobs, open a manufacturing shop and compete with China, Taiwon, India etc and their labor laws (or lack there of), Unions and minimum wage. Don't blame the companies, blame the government for all the regulations we have that other countries don't.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Don't blame the companies, blame the government for all the regulations we have that other countries don't.

Get rid of OSHA, the Fair Labor Act, the EPA, and other government watch dogs.



Sounds like a good idea to me.





Tom

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Cry me a river folks.



Successful companies succeed, unsuccessful ones fail. The consumer votes with their dollar and at the polls in November. Everything is as most people want it, and that means that some workers get shown the curb.



It's life...companies, like people have a lifespan. Nothing lives forever.

 

[EddieS'04]

One of these days, out sourcing will get bad enough, that the rest of the world will be able to bring this country, TO A SCREECHING HALT...Unless we do their will or follow their lead..



Thats the river to cry over folks...

 

[Thomas Rogers]

FUD.

 

[Fred]

Yeah, but I'm comfortable right now, so screw the rest of my country.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Thanks Fred.



Now we can add G (for Guilt) to FUD...we now have FUDG.



Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Guilt...just add in Exaggeration, and we can make some FUDGE.



TJR

 

[Richard L]

Toyota and Honda build their vehicles here in the USA as does GM, Ford and Chrysler. So why are GM Ford and Chrysler in such a financial nose dive. They are not selling their vehicles because they are not making the vehicles that people want to buy and Toyota and Honda are!



The US automakers dug their hole many years ago. They negotiated union contracts that guaranteed UAW members salaries that are twice as high as they should be, and then topped that off with heavy retirement benefits to boot. Now they are stuck paying huge pensions and astronomical wages for thousands of basically unskilled laborers. It was just pointed out recently by one of the UAW big shots that the starting assembly line worker gets paid $27.00 per hour. That’s $54,000.00 + per year to start, and that is an unskilled untrained employee to just turn a bolt or screw.



If the UAW workers are out of a job, it’s as much the problem with the UAW management as it is with the the Auto manufacturer’s management. Their unions demanded higher and higher pay and benefits which increased the Auto manufacturer’s cost and made it hard for US vehicles to compete.



It’s also the Auto manufacturer’s fault for allowing it to happen. They should have thrown the unions out and they would have had thousands lined up to fill the jobs at half the pay. The Management of any company has an obligation to keeip the company profitable and in business. This all stems from poor planning and the fact that everything was deferred to deal with it later. But now, later is here and they have to pay up. They don’t know how to get out of the mess they have been building for the past 30-40 years.



You don’t hear about Toyota or Honda shutting down its plants or laying off workers.

Toyota is one of the most cost effective manufacturers of quality vehicles. They do not use union workers so they don’t have to pay people a ridiculous salary and then add that to the cost of their vehicles. They did not get that way by emulating the big American car companies. They probably did almost everything differently and got a different outcome…and obviously a better one.



American manufacturers tend to rely on the same old gimics: big cars, big horsepower, and big profits. When peoples taste changes and the price of gas goes up, they keep making the big cars with the big horsepower while Toyota and Honda keep pulling ahead.



…Rich

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Oh, RichardL, you are such a hater when it comes to the unskilled laborer!

 

[Richard L]

TJR,

I don't hate unskilled laborers. I think everyone should be able to earn a respectable wage. I also think that people who have skills and education should in most circumstances make more money than someone without skills or an education.



The Unions have been driving up the wages of many unskilled manufacturing jobs to the point that the manufacturers have turned to outsourcing their manufacturing to other countries where the labor rates a much cheaper. That only reduces the number of jobs here in the US. Then people complain that the US is not the big manufacturing mecca that it once was.



Toyota and Honda have proven that you don't have to pay assembly line workers $27.00 an hour to make a quality vehicle that people will buy and pay a premium price for that kind of quality. The quality that Toyota and Honda have does not come from its assembly line workers, it's engineered into their products from very begining.



American manufacturers cut corners in the engineering and materials because they have to pay so much for their union workers. They rely on big cars with big engines and old brand/model names to sell their vehicles...sometimes it works, and sometimes it don't.



...Rich

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

What RichardL says is pretty true. You pay $27 per hour for someone just to turn a screw, you are going to lose money. I had to go to school for 2 years just to push a button to take x-rays and have to have so many "continueing education" points per year to keep my certification, so I can get paid my $19 per hour. I'm not trying to hammer on unions or anything but look at what is happening to Harley-Davidson. It's not just happening to automobile manufacturers.

 

[EddieS'04]

Sheesh..someone has a problem with decent wages for the economy, that the workers live in. Why dont we all just live in huts and walk. So easy a caveman can do it...crap!!!

 

[Thomas Rogers]

RichardL, the winking smiley face means sarcasm....you know, tongue in cheek.



Fast Eddie, I have no problem with people making a decent wage in the local economy in which they work. I'm glad you don't either. That's why I want to protect the rights of a company to offshore it's manufacturing to countries where the cost-of-living, and therefore the living wage is SO MUCH lower than here in the states.



We don't seem to have a problem when a company outsources it's payroll to another company so that it can save money, though it means some HR people are laid off. We don't seem to mind it when a company moves its manufacturing from NJ to Kentucky for cheaper labor. Why do we hate on these same companies when they employ someone in China or India.



If we did it BETTER (with all things considered) here, then it would still be DONE here.



TJR

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Stone,



Harley-Davidson is a good example. Another dying brand that many took (and still take) pride in even though it was inferior in quality and higher in cost than the foreign competition.



Ever hear: "I'd rather push a Harley then ride a Honda?"



There are reasons for sayings like that.



People are often committed to a brand due to nostalgia, because it's what their father and his father drove/bought, etc. It's easy and it's comfortable to stay with the brand you have always had. Many people don't like change. Some want everything to stay the same. They pay a price for that...



TJR