Comments on: Trollhattan plant stops work

By: eggsngrits

eggsngrits — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:42:38 +0000

Ted: I agree with you on the ‘fair practices’ thing — a car made in China isn’t the same as one made in Sweden simply because the one in Sweden is more humane. I’ll give you that. Unfortunately, we’re talking about moving manufacturing to Germany, Portugal or the like. Theoretically, they play by similar environmental rules and don’t employ slave labor. Again, I think that the Swedes are a little out-of-balance when the economics are considered.

I agree that our government and the average consumer are blind to these differences, or at least they pretend to be so. Unfortunate, that’s for sure.

Generally I’m against tarrifs because they simply band-aid the problem rather than fixing it. At what price do you set environmental responsibility? Can the Chinese kill their own rivers and sicken their own population for a few hundred bucks per car? Is that OK? Not in my book. It makes the ledger balance, but nothing else changes.

The Kyoto Accord was like that — the US had to invest heavily in technology to reduce emissions, but Japan, China, Indonesia, etc. had to do almost nothing. That’s why we walked. And we should have. It simply made the already slanted playing field even steeper.

Again, back to Trollhattan: If that is their niche: “Green Manufacturing”, then get the message out! Some people will buy that if it is proven to them.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:11:08 +0000

I can honestly say that at least 90% of the employees dont agree with the union on this thing. SAAB made the workers start 1 hour early on tuesday this week and last week to compensate for the production loss. Most people I saw at the information meeting as the union called look bored and weren’t listening at all. The night shift had to stand in rain for a full hour listening to the unions political message which only a handfull actually cared about… most were just glad when it was over so that they could go back inside and start working…

By: Ted Y

Ted Y — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:50:31 +0000

On the other hand, how are factories in environmentally responsible countries supposed to compete against those in the don’t-give-a-damn, we’ll-put-you-out-of-business, slave labor countries? I, for one, think our government should step to the plate and require proof of equivalent low factory emissions and competitive wages/benefits, or impose import tarrifs to create a level playing field.
Just my 2 cents worth.

By: eggsngrits

eggsngrits — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:30:19 +0000

Oh, how I weary of union saber rattling. GM’s costs are spiralling upward, choking the comany, and a plant in one of the highest wage and tax states in the world has a beef with the work going elsewhere? Methinks they should look within to show that they are worth that premium.

The average auto worker in Sweden is paid about 40% more and gets more than double the vacation time of his/her American counterpart. On top of that, the corporate taxes in Sweden are about 40% higher than in the US as well. Trollhattan thinks that GM owes them a living? Nope. GM doesn’t. At this point, Trollhattan should be glad that the plug hasn’t already been pulled.

And, NO I don’t want Trollhattan to go away. I want Saab to remain there, too. However, Trollhattan must remain competitive on a global scale to stay in the manufacturing game. Hourly wage earners are the largest cost by far.

I think that Trollhattan can keep the capacity, but it will likely take a sizeable government subsidy or a large labor concession to make it happen.

Ask the people of Flint, Michigan if GM won’t pull the plug. They can and will.