I was just watching CNN and heard this news. I guess the auto industry usually shuts down for a 2 week period this time of the year, but to cut costs and to reduce over production the will be shutting down the plants for 4 weeks. It was unclear as wether employees will be paid during this time. I guess that means no pay. I am not a fan of chrysler, but this is still a sign of things to come. I amazed that the direction and path of the big three is still up in the air.

 

Mercedes, at this point, is probably glad they let Chrysler go.

 

I asked the fella at the Subie dealer how they were doin today. He said Subaru was still strong, but not great. He felt much worse though for his Chevy colleagues. People dont want Chevys.

 

Subaru has a smaller potential cutomer base than Chevy, but it is extremely strong (you and I, technically, are part of it, although I am objective in my general car talk). Chevy's support, by comparison, is a mile wide, but an inch deep. And Chrysler's? Though it may sound a little stereotypical, many, if not most, people buy Dodge/Chrysler products for one of three reasons: Styling, somebody in their family works for the corporation, or they don't do their homework and go look at anything better.

 

As Dandy Don Meredith used to sing, "Turn out the lights, the party's over". Chrysler is too weak to survive, even with massive cash infusions. It has to go.

Daimler made one of worst business decisions ever when they made this "Merger of Equals", poured all that money into it, and then walked away from it. Shameful.

And, yes, of course those workers get paid during the shutdown. 95% of base pay for that month, that's the UAW way. And we wonder what's wrong with this picture.

 

So, they're going to save money by continuing to pay their EXTREMELY expensive workforce, continue to pay the lease on the buildings/property, but not have any cars to sell for these ongoing expenses?

Huh?

 

You should do your research before posting, at the time of the so called merger of equals Chrysler had more cash on hand than any other automaker, so all Benz did was raid the cash box for their own needs and dump the remains off to an investment firm, nice.

 

So all the billions Daimler put into the operation was just a plan to raid the kitty? It didn't work out quite as Daimler planned. It was an expensive fiasco. No one in their right mind would say the merger worked out for either company.

 

Am I the only person who thinks that the auto workers are paid way to much to do work that you could train college kids to do just as well and faster for less. $71 an hour for what???? It takes no education, technical skill, or knowledge. A monkey can screw in door hinges, and tap on newly installed windshields to assure adhesion. It amazes me that the UAW will ride this to the bitter crash and burn. 95% of something is more that 100% of nothing. Maybe it would be better if they went bankrupt , then they might be able to get out of these contracts and they can let go and rehire its work force. Younger, faster, and cheaper work force is what this company is gonna need if/when it gets back on its feet.


$71 an hour.... what a joke. Thats about equal pay as a business or medical professional per year in pay and benifits. whats wrong with this picture ??????????????

 

Nope, you aren't the only person. You should check out some of the UAW discussions we've had recently here in the car chat forum.

 

Fingers are crossed that these 3 companies rebound but they do really need to dump the UAW.

 

Yeah tonight at work I helped out a guy who works for Chyrsler and manages the stamping plant that builds the Dodge Challenger. He let me have the keys to take a look at his company provided Challenger.

It was nice and all. It had push button start, hemi, leather, nav.....But I kept think while playing with the car was....."why are they using valuable resources etc to build this.....where are the hybrids?"

 

For what they do the money is ridiculous, some would think they won the lottery, but having met Union Workers, they are not intelligent or money conscious, many of them are probably living on their current paychecks, with minimal amounts saved

 

I also think this is true. It's one of the reasons why the union won't back down.

- They won't budge in pay/benefits one inch.
- Sure, you can close the plant for a month but, we still need to get paid.
- Even if you eliminate my position, I still need to get paid every week (Job Bank)

The UAW thinks that this is how is SHOULD be.

As the great Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid."

 

NO--they have tons of cars to sell already, sitting on the lots.