Excellent article, lisa --
the crux of the matter:
GM said it stopped the improvements [for new equipment at the Flint metal-stamping plant] at $120 million [its contract with the Local 659 union called for $300 million.] Hackworth, the GM executive responsible for car manufacturing, said the company stopped when it was clear the union would fall short on its obligations.
The contract with Local 659 required it to curb outmoded work rules, especially in a plant area where 1,500 workers make cradles that support truck and large-car engines.
Workers in the cradle area are paid under an old plan that compensates them for each part they make. A worker can produce the minimum number of parts in five or six hours. Then, to keep the machinery churning out parts, the company has to pay workers overtime. Wages for the typical stamping plant worker reached $69,000 last year and GM said it paid another $21,000 in benefits. [well, what's new: an auto worker's union with excessively unreasonable demands, which far outstrip what other private sector manufacturing employees in the US expect or get.]
Hackworth said the old compensation plan forces the plant to run excess overtime, including $33 million worth last year, one reason the plant lost $50 million.
When the union refused to dismantle the work rules, GM decided it couldn't go forward and install a press in a plant with barriers to improving productivity.
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Fire 'em all. |
