Is this the right time to get rid of the UAW and their Big 3 top management?

They need to break the union once and for all. Let them file under Chapter 11 and reorganize. My family has always had auto workers so I am not against them but if the choice is cutting salary and benefits or going under they should adjust to be able to compete with other car manufacturers.

Its true that the union is a part of the problems these companies are having but its not the most significant part. Even if there was no UAW involved, these three companies would still be in trouble.

The problem has been on the make for years:
Problem #1. The CEOs' lack of creative vision.
Problem #2. The CEOs' wasteful financial habits.
Problem #3. Very bad management decisions.
Problem #4. Not paying attention to or keeping up with the competition
Problem #5. Focusing too much on quantity and not at all on quality
Problem #6. Not paying attention to what consumers want
Problem #7. Assuming that they will always be around no matter what
Problem #8. Making too many concessions to the union
Problem #9. Waiting until they are near bankruptcy before acting
Problem #10. Being near bankruptcy and still don't have a better business plan to get out of it.
Problem #11. Still living in the 20th century. Technology has changed manufacturing forever. They don't need that many workers on a line to make the cars. Its costing them a boatload of money to pay salaries and benefits to all these workers and this is no longer an efficient way to do business. Yes, the still need some workers but probably only about 10% of the amount of them they now have. Most of the assembly work should be automated (which is the way the competition does it). They need to install machines to assemble the cars. the initial capital layout isn't cheap but it pays off very quickly. Machines are fast and efficient, they don't receive a salary or benefits and they don't take breaks or take time off. As long as you maintain them properly you can run them 24/7 at a fraction of what it costs to hire people to do the same job.

So here they are, begging for taxpayers' money and hoping thats going to save them. It won't. Getting this bailout money would amount to throwing good money after bad---unless they can show a solid marketing plan and a new way of management that will make them more competitive in a way that they will become profitable again and be able to pay all the taxpayer money back WITH interest.

There is a reason more Americans began buying foreign cars, even though some of them cost significantly more than the domestics. That reason is the poor build quality that most of the domestics are known for. The CEOs of the big 3 have known this for decades, but they sat back and did nothing and allowed brands like Honda, Toyota, and even Hyundai to get way ahead of them.

It wasn't always this way. The big 3 used to make solid cars with excellent functionality---until they decided to go cheap. The American companies have the materials, the technology, and the manpower to build better cars than even the Germans, but they chose not to even try. If you as a consumer are going to invest money into something as expensive as a new vehicle, you want one that is well built, reliable, and will last a long time. Many of the domestics is none of the above, and it is this consumer perception that causes them to depreciate so much more rapidly than most of the foreign brands. None of the big 3 made any attempts to refine the design of their vehicles to change that consumer perception so I don't know why they should be surprised that their sales have declined so dramatically.

No, the right time was A VERY LONG TIME AGO!!!

Unions were created to protect the safety of the workers, they were relevant thirty years ago - not today. When they started to represent the workers beyond safety, they really started to infringe on the free market principles of a business. Labor is a cost to the company, and when you inflate labor costs, the end price to the consumer is proportionately higher to cover those costs and maintain the profit needed to make business sense.

When a company depends on an assembly line for production of a product, one component of that not contributing really stops the whole process. So when UAW workers would strike, it costs the company millions! So when they threaten to strike, then enter into negotiations, it's kind of like being coerced by a police officer to admit to something that you know is not right. Unions are like mobs, they are counter-productive in every sense of the word.

Unfortunately, and this is just the truth so people please don't get too offended. Auto workers aren't really that intelligent so they don't understand that their actions priced the vehicles too high to really have value. So now they are losing everything, justly so.

Absolutely! The big three negotiated just 4 months ago, they knew the problems, so did the unions, and neither tried to alleviate the problems. The job banks is pathetic. So all big three close all the plants in Jan. and we the tax payers will be paying 95% of their salaries as they go to Florida and Mexico to vacation with their families. Nardelli, Mulully, and Waggoner have totally lost any vision, they are not leaders, and are self focused.

Bush needs to pull a Reagan and fire them all.

YES YES YES.

Get them out of there. They are sucking up the $$

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