Other Editorials

Flint Journal Letter to the Editor

Theodore Edick
Tuesday, April 4, 2006

GM Management to Blame

Let's take a look at some of the decisions General Motors' top-level management has made over the years, and it will be easy to see why it is in the fix it's in.

Several years ago, the Oldsmobile Cutlass was the third-best-selling nameplate behind Chevy and Ford. So GM canceled that car, and eventually did away with the entire Oldsmobile division.

Not many years ago, Buick LeSabre was the best-selling Buick, so GM did away with that nameplate.

Also Buick's best-quality LeSabre plant was the Buick City plant in Flint, and GM not only stopped production at this plant, but completely demolished it.

The Cadillac DeVille had been around for as long as I could remember, and a fine automobile it was, but it too is history.

GM advertises cars that will go zero to 60 mph in seconds when what we really need is a full-size car that will go from New York to Denver on a tank of gas. Those cars would sell faster than they could make them because high gas prices are here to stay.

All of the engineering departments for all the car divisions were moved to GM headquarters in Detroit. Now all the cars have the same seats, the same hardware, the same everything. They all look alike except for nameplate and price.

Another brilliant decision, GM is adding 280,000 square feet of gas hog truck production capacity at the Fort Wayne Truck Plant at a cost of $35 million.

The big boys at GM are now even taking a 50 percent cut in salary and, get this, no bonus. Bonus for what? GM management has sold off every asset the company has, and is even trying to sell off GMAC, the only profit-making division.

GM has agreed to some stupid things in the UAW contract, such as the Jobs Bank.

On the other hand, the hourly work force has built what the big shots gave them to build. Now the hourly workers are going to suffer for management's stupid decisions.

GM is the poorest managed company in the United States, and even though management has reduced their wages, if GM doesn't go out of business, the dividend will be restored. The benefits they have taken away from the workers and retirees will never be restored.

Theodore E. Edick