Text 29326, 152 rader
Skriven 2012-05-31 04:13:18 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
  Kommentar till text 29299 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: The real free world..
=============================
30 May 12 07:10, Robert Bashe wrote to Roy Witt:

 RB> Roy Witt wrote to Joe Delahaye on Tuesday May 29 2012 at 07:59:

 JD>>> Those unions WILL shut that company down if they do not comply.

 RW>> LOL! Tell that to the union goons in Germany who TRIED to tell GM
 RW>> that they couldn't close an Opel plant and move it to Poland...Many
 RW>> Poles will be enjoying new found employment thanks to stupid union
 RW>> goons, come 2014.

 RB> If I may say something here, being in the area and knowing something
 RB> about the subject...

You're saying that you know more about it than Deutsch-Welle has reported
on their website and newsletter?

 RB> The plant in question is in Bochum, a bit down the road from me, and
 RB> has had many financial problems over the years, not least because of
 RB> the fact that company policy is decided in the USA and not in
 RB> Germany. Opel used to be quite popular here, but has gone downhill
 RB> because the models simply didn't keep up with modern developments
 RB> such as those we see from companies like Toyota and Hyundai (or even
 RB> VW, BMW and Mercedes).

In your opinion.

 RB> There were and are several reasons for this, one being the relatively
 RB> high wages and strict labor laws in Germany (not "union goons"),

Unions are run by goons...labor laws are enforced by the state. That's how
it works worldwide.

 RB> another the fact that GM siphons off the cash that would be needed
 RB> for model development instead of leaving it with Opel,

Because Opels are designed in GM studios, located in the states. Even
Japanese vehicles are designed in studios located in the states.

 RB> and a third the fact that Opel is artificially restricted in it's
 RB> markets by GM USA.

I don't think so. GM owns Holden - Australia and those vehicles are sold
worldwide. Opels are also sold here. I suspect that they'll be made in
China soon and sold worldwide, with a price that everyone can afford.

 RB> The places Opel could sell more cars are off limits to it, not
 RB> because of local policies, but because GM says "no".

GM, like any other company in the world, should have a say so in where
their products can be manufactured and sold. Just like VW manufactures
in Mexico and Brazil and sells them to any market that they'll move in.

 RB> So here you have a company that is being hamstrung by policies set
 RB> overseas, far from the local company, and quite a lot of employees -

I guess you're not aware that 'overseas' companies do marketing research
before they begin to export vehicles there. They use potentially
(export market) local companies to do that research. The Japanese are
famous for their market research practices.

 RB> I think still around 20,000 at Bochum alone - who have already given
 RB> up benefits and accepted wage cuts several times to keep the plant
 RB> open and running, and now despite such sacrifices are seeing that
 RB> everything they have done is still not enough for GM USA.

When a union and its workers affect the bottom line, GM, like any other
company will find places with 'right to work' laws that exempt the company
from hiring only union workers. Tennesee, Texas and So Carolina are just a
few of those places in the states. Not only has GM moved plants to these
RTW states, but BMW and Toyota have done the same. When the revolution is
finally fought and won by the state in Mexico, more cars will be
manufactured there than in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. (My Silverado was
made in Indiana)

 RB> This is a pity, as Opel used to be one of the main German automakers,
 RB> along with VW, BMW and Mercedes - but those three are German
 RB> companies, with the policies set here.

Each of which have assembly plants in the states as well as South America.
They're tired of the labor unions and laws that favor unions. I don't
blame them, as union labor has taken a toll on GMs bottom line and the
vehicles produced by labor unions is sub-par.

 RB> At any rate, GM may not be doing itself as big a favor as it thinks
 RB> if it actually closes the plant and transfers all manufacturing to
 RB> Ruesselsheim (the other large Opel plant in Germany), England and
 RB> Poland (where there are supposedly lower labor costs).

Bottom line is a driving force that makes companies do what is needed
for the company to survive...if it isn't profitable to make and sell in
one place (Germany), the company will be looking for some place that is
(Poland or China).

 RB> I can still remember the Nokia plant - also in Bochum, also a large
 RB> plant - being closed and the production transferred to Rumania,
 RB> similarly because of labor costs. That was only a few years back, and
 RB> cost Nokia dearly in the German market, one of the technology
 RB> highpoints of the continent.

Fortunately for Nokia, their market has expanded from Rumania and soon
from China into the American (north and south) and Asian markets, where
they're very profitable. My newest cellphone is a Nokia.

 RB> And now... the Nokia plant in Rumania, almost brand new, is being
 RB> closed as well and all production trensferred to the far east. The
 RB> Rumanians are as unhappy about this as the Germans were, and are
 RB> demanding that government subsidies paid to Nokia be returned.

Hopefully, Nokia will ignore all of that and make their move quickly,
before German unions and labor laws send them down the drain.

 RB> Something like that could happen to GM, too, and if it does Opel cars
 RB> may eventually be made in Shanghai. But since their only markets, by
 RB> order of GM USA, are in central and western Europe,

GM is looking for a market that can sell their products; China is a much
faster growing economy than the EU, which is about to go belly up on its
own.

 RB> the whole brand may eventually die. Or be sold off to die like Saab
 RB> and Volvo.

Doubtful. There is plenty of market in Asia for small, fuel efficient
cars that don't have to meet emission laws of the EU or the USA.

Opel can fit into that criteria very well.

 RB> All that is quite an argument for local ownership and local policy
 RB> setting, since at least then any failure is clearly one of the local
 RB> management.

GM has a much better grasp on it than you, I'm sure.

 RB> But just to finish up, this is not one of your typical union
 RB> disagreements that have developed in the States from time to time.
 RB> The matter isn't that simple.

No one has said that it is...GM's bottom line drives the company to be
profitable, not unions or German labor laws.


                R\%/itt



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