by Carolyn Tytler

Created on: February 02, 2009

I live in a General Motors town. I was born here, grew up here, raised my family here and now I'm a senior citizen and retiree in the same city. "Generous Motors" as the company has come to be known in later years was always the industrial heart of the area. Those who didn't work at the factories themselves worked for smaller businesses whose services or products were utilized by the giant automotive corporation.

In those early years, most people drove General Motors vehicles. The management of the company paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. The workers were industrious, conscientious, and justly proud of the products they manufactured. The corporation, from management down to the maintenance crew were ethical, respected in the community, and business boomed.

Fast forward ahead to 2008. General Motors is begging for a government bailout to avoid bankruptcy. Most people in town are driving foreign cars: Toyotas or Hondas. Automotive union members refuse to give up any of the extraordinary privileges they have bargained for, until at least 2011. Everyone has at least one horror story to tell about the failure or substandard quality of a GM product they had previously owned.

My own is as follows: I bought my first brand new General Motors car in 1980, a Buick Skylark. I was thrilled because I had only had used cars until that time. On my first trip out, it stalled in the middle of a busy intersection. If the oncoming cars had not been able to stop quickly, I would have been seriously injured, or worse. The service manager's explanation was that the pollution control mechanism had not been properly adjusted. Subsequently, this vehicle rusted out around the doors and had other problems for which servicing was required.

What happened in the intervening years to bring a formerly proud, successful company to the present sorry situation?

Management became greedy. They ignored the factors of climate change, probable gas shortages and escalating prices for fossil fuels. They chose to continue to produce the big money-makers, SUVs, trucks and the large automobiles. For a while, the profits soared.

The Union, (CAW), saw an opportunity and bargained for sky-high wages, and all kinds of outrageous benefits for workers. They now get medical, dental and legal insurance, "spa weeks", generous pensions with continued insurance coverage, and even their birthdays off. There were few strikes because management didn't want to lose the fat profits, and easily acceded to Union

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