Profitable, Sustainable Growth

I know, I know, another American Axle story?


Since they've been on strike now for 3 days short of 2 months, or for those counting...


57 days


To be honest, this is a diary because it's incredibly important and needs to be brought up, over and over and over again.  Maybe then, a few might put some pressure on the candidates to address the strike and the THOUSANDS currently out of work because of the strike and not because they are actually on strike.


Okay, so let's get to the meat of today's bit of gloom and doom...

From  MSNBC:

"We obviously want to win, and we’d like to be No. 1 in sales at the end of the year," he said. "But really our focus right now is on profitable, sustainable growth across the world."

GM said it posted record sales in three of its four regions, but a 10 percent drop in North America pulled down the overall numbers. Sales were up 8 percent outside of North America, the Detroit automaker said.

A record 64 percent of GM’s sales in the latest quarter came from outside the United States, with the company reporting nearly 20 percent growth in the Latin America, Africa and Middle East region, 6 percent growth for Asia Pacific operations and 3 percent growth in Europe.

GM sold roughly 2.27 million vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2007.

So, with all the growth internationally, it got me to thinking about how GM is going to be able to focus on profitable sustainable growth.


You see, the American Axle strike has affected more than 30 GM plants in at least 3 countries and countless other manufacturing jobs elsewhere (think about the nearly 2% rise in unemployment for Fort Wayne). With people out of work in Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Ottawa, Ontario, ugh, I don't even think I can go on with this list.  Suffice it to say that the 37,000 workers who were laid off or on reduced schedules in mid March are now being joined by previously working people.  And don't just think GM here.  GM is the biggest user of American Axle parts, but they aren't the only one.  What happens when Chrysler suspends opeartions or suppliers who get parts from American Axle to make components for Ford can no longer produce their product?  Well, I think you can now get the picture.


So, when is it going to be the right time for GM to put PUBLIC pressure on Dick Dauch?  When can we see an end to all this completely unneccessary wage cuts and give backs from the workers while the CEO and his cronies rake in million dollar bonuses?


Personally, I think now is the right time for GM to step up.  I also think it's our responsibility to do so as well.

Working together we can do anything.  I belive, we can even get Dick Dauch to start negotiating in Good Faith, once and for all.

•  Solidarity Jar

  As always, thanks for stopping by and if you need more labor news, pop over to http://uniongal.blogspot.com

  by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 01:53:46 PM PDT

  •  I'm wondering about your thoughts on

    the Fair Pay Act. Will we see a diary on this soon?

    by Tuffy on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 01:57:59 PM PDT

    •  hard to cover

      multiple diaries here.  I haven't done one on my site yet because the AFL-CIO has a fabulous one up

      A number of public policies will help, starting with the Fair Pay Restoration Act. This bill would reverse the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear: that discrimination claims must be made within 180 days after the pay is set, rather than any time a person discovers they are being paid at a discriminatory rate.

      Another bill titled the Fair Pay Act would require employers to use objective job evaluations to achieve equal pay for equivalent work and remove gender, race or national origin as criteria in compensation. The Employee Free Choice Act would ease the negotiating that matters most, collective bargaining, by removing barriers to union representation. To end the motherhood penalty, we need to ensure that family responsibility is added to the list of categories protected under anti-discrimination law. And we need to raise the wage floor and guarantee equity for those in non-standard jobs.

      Highly recommend a complete read of it.

      by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:04:54 PM PDT

•  Keep posting.

  I don't watch or read the corporate business press, and most of the information I get is from foreign journals, academic sites, socialist lefty rags, and online sites.

  So, yeah, keep posting.  You're my only source.

  I see your name on the diary list and I read it.

  by Kab ibn al Ashraf on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 01:59:40 PM PDT

  •  ah

    thanks.

    You can also read me over at uniongirl.blogspot.com and also on Joe's Union Review.

    by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:06:10 PM PDT

    •  oops

      it's http://uniongal.blogspot.com  spelled my own url wrong.

      by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:06:42 PM PDT

•  Keep posting.

  Thanks, Bendy girl.

  You may want to check this diary out also that I did earlier:

  Justice for Eleazar Torres-Gomez: House Panel Examines Cintas Safety

  by TomP on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:05:22 PM PDT

  •  great diary

    if you haven't yet, I'd recommend you take a look at the Workplace  toll site.  They have a lot of information about workplace injuries and deaths.  It's sad but the work is to ensure that workers are valued and to someday, build a workers memorial.

    by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:09:30 PM PDT

    •  Thanks, bendygirl.

      I'll check it out.

      by TomP on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 03:17:56 PM PDT

•  Thank you for posting this -

  I didnt' know anything about the strike.  In America's best days - middle class strength - CEOs got something like 40x the average stiff's salary.  Now it's more like 400x (something like 1000x minimum wage) - and they manage to give themselves golden parachutes when they lose the company money and/or retire, while cutting jobs and benefits for everybody else.  I'm union, but I'm not anti-corporation - as long as those corporations are regulated for the common good.  They are permitted those liability protections for a reason and the reason seems to have been long forgotten.  I call it the "5th vice president syndrome" - when a corporation gets to that 5th veep, it's time to break it up.

  by bfitzinAR on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:09:12 PM PDT

  •  I like that idea

    5th veep.  

    by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:10:35 PM PDT

  •  Agree with you but that number

    For some ceo's is more like 10,000 times minimum wage (think 140 million versus 14,000). Only 400 ( about 5.6 million) is almost socially responsible these days compared to the big payouts.

    by marketgeek on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 02:18:48 PM PDT

•  Been reading you for some time, Bendygirl. You

  do well.

  I'm wondering about GM's definition of the word sustainable.

  peace

  by 0hio on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 04:32:53 PM PDT

  •  wondered that myself

    However, the article does note that GM has expanded their sales into South America and Africa.  Perhaps sustainability is profit based alone. Because they certainly haven't built up the renewable energy or hybrid or electric...

    And thanks for the nice comments.

    by Bendygirl on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 07:13:07 PM PDT