GM is going to axe 25k jobs:
General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 jobs in the United States by 2008 and to close plants as part of a strategy to revive its struggling North American operations.
Speaking to shareholders at GM’s 96th annual shareholder meeting in Delaware Tuesday morning, Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the capacity and job cuts will generate annual savings of roughly $2.5 billion.
Wagoner revealed the cutbacks as he laid out a four-step strategy to revive GM’s North American business, the biggest and most troubling part of the world’s largest automaker.
Wagoner focused on priorities for clarifying the role of each of GM’s eight brands, intensifying efforts to reduce cost and improve quality and continuing to search for ways to reduce skyrocketing health care costs.
He noted that health-care expenses add $1,500 to the cost of each vehicle. This puts GM at a ”significant disadvantage versus foreign-based competitors,” and said GM has conducted ”intense discussions” with the unions about how to reduce health-care costs, he said.
General Motors shares rose 47 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $30.89 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Couple of quick notes/questions:
1.) Should we view the loss of jobs as a good thing or bad thing- good, because the company has a plan for long-term existence, bad because of the job loss.
2.) When companies are publicly putting forward the cost of health care per car, it gives you an idea of what their solutiong is- pushing the cost elsewhere. You know where that elsewhere is, don’t you? Single payer health care is a done deal at some point in the next 10-15 years. As soon as Republicans in bed with big business can convince themselves the Clinton taint is gone, they will be bringing it up themselves.
3.) It is easy to understand why some on the left hate businesses and the market, when every time bad news is announced the stock price jacks up.
Discuss.