That will get rid of the unions. Maybe allow a gain of a few percent in the auto shares-- all the typical desk worker really wants out the auto makers. We will all have a higher standard of living once these parasite union workers who pervert the labor markets are taken down. It will unleash the creativity of the market. The Chinese really know how to keep down labor costs. Maybe it will shave a few bucks off the price of a Chinese owned GM. We don't have to spend government money. The perfect answer. edit http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/11/19/02867.html
it might even provide more jobs for mechanics, since chinese products tend to break down, some will say. Ja, got it out of the way before any of you other guys.
It would make sense for the Chinese. It would be easier for them to build up the GM brand than to have push their own new one.
And maybe them ChiComs can teach us a lesson on good 'mercan capitalism too. Bailouts are for dirty socialists.
The Chinese auto maker who takes over GM would probably do something sneaky and unfair like use Chinese government money to support the new Chinese-GM till they could compete on their own against Toyota and Honda. Then they would make a bundle.
In the incredibly, incredibly unlikely event that this comes to pass - which it won't - how do you see them being able to "get rid of the unions"? A foreign owner of a US automaker with pre-existing unions and union contracts is still subject to US labor laws, see Daimler-Chrysler.
This is probably the only way Ford and GM could actually make crappier products that might also be poisonous to children.
Once they enter Ch. 11 they are going to be in there for a long, long time and it makes a foreign buyer a lot less likely.
I admit I'm not an expert on this. The argument is that if they file bankruptcy, they will be liquidating soon after because people are less inclined to buy a car from a company that may not be around to honor its warranty. This creates an even greater cashflow problem which would almost force them to sell large chunks of their business. Since no other US companies is in the position to buy their assets. Only the Chinese have the capital to buy them if only for the name.
Buying a few assets from the carcass and taking over the companies are not even close to the same thing - PS considering the incredibly dire straits of the big 3, it's not just the Chinese that have the capital, hell lots of people do, just nobody in their right mind is willing to touch them.
Going into bankruptcy doesn't free you from union contracts. All the airlines have been in/out of Ch 11 or 13 and they all still have pilots unions and other unions for flight attendants and mechanics.
Isn't it ironic that GM dominates the auto industry in China? Chinese hate Japan so they refuse to buy Toyotas or Hondas. Chevy is the most popular car brand over there.
Sorry, I was being sarcastic. You are right. It seems the majority of the office workers on this bbs would like to break the union. Like me they prefer office work, but resent the pay of the unionized auto workers. I am surprised and pleased that the companies can't get out of their union contracts by going into bankruptcy. I would have thought that the GOP S.Ct would have handled that by now.
You can thank the corporate barracuda known as Frank Lorenzo for why bankruptcy no longer voids union contracts.
The UAW is a fraud and helped make the bed that the automakers are lying in. That comes from a Caterpillar UAW man, and a very similar statement from a GM employee. The biggest problem with the the big three is same as social security --- promises have been made without money being set aside. There's this stupid assumption that more money will be forthcoming. Whoops.
Oh I have been in a couple of unions and I don't think they are a fraud. My wife is in one now and doesn't think so either. Out of curiosity have you ever been in a union or are you just are repeating stuff you've heard? Hey, social security is fully solvent till 2049. See the below link, page 11. http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/IOUSA_2008_10.pdf
Sure, it does. I am not sure what breaking union contracts has to with unions still operating. Unions can still operate, after a contract has been voided and a new one put in place. In 2005, the bankruptcy judge voided US Airways contract with mechanics and baggage handlers. The mere threat of a voided contracts gets the unions to make a new contract. Many airline union employees ended up with huge salary cuts and drop in benefits, from bankruptcy proceedings and new contracts.
