Auto Industry Bailout Should Have Some Money For Retraining Of Laid Off Workers

[Median Democrat]

One thing that is ignored is that even if Congress bailouts the auto industry, the Big Three are proposing massive layoffs as part of an effort to cut costs. Yes, a bailout will keep the Big Three solvent, but GM is proposing to layoff thousands of employees and discontinue certain car brands as part of its strategy. The question is if Congress approves a bailout, what will happen to those workers who are laid off. Will there be any effort to retrain such workers? I really have not heard any news reports discussing the workers who will get laid off even if the Big Three get a bailout.

http://www.wlaj.com/news/cut_13523___article.html/jobs_.html

/snip

GM employee James Thomas says, "All the other suppliers, and everybody else, would be really bad, everybody would be looking for other work."

GM announced a 2.5 billion dollar loss in the third quarter and has said it may run out of cash before the end of this year.

The additional layoffs will come in the first quarter of 2009 and are in addition to the 3,600 factory lay-offs announced last week.

There's no word yet on which plants will be affected by the new round.

/snip

[Phred42]

1. Retrain them for WHAT!?

This is the same feel-good BS that was used in the late 90's and early 00's

[madrchsod]

2. missed one--the 80`s

after the steel working industry was shipped to south korea,taiwan,and china we were told to retrain to the computer revolution!

[Phred42]

3. Point

[Greyhound]

9. ...and then they killed that, just shows their true motivation. n/t

:kick:

[Odin2005]

5. Rebuilding our infrastructure. High-speed rail. Solar panels. Wind mills. Public Works.

[JVS]

7. For when the big 3 fires them and uses the bailout money to build factories in Brazil

[Phred42]

8. right.....teach them Portuguese ...... got it

:toast:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. Most of that is written into their contracts.

A friend's husband who made tires was laid off. They have paid for him to go to Nursing school. It was in their contracts.
Duckie

[DainBramaged]

6. Retrain to do what? The AVERAGE age of the UAW autoworker is 52.

You going to train them to flip burgers?

[Median Democrat]

10. Shoot, Then What's The Point Of The Bailout If GM Is Laying Them Off Anyways?

GM's proposed bailout plan still requires massive layoffs, and shutting down of certain car lines. What happens to those workers?

[MazeRat7]

11. They can reduce OPEX all they want...

But if they don't change their business model, the are going to fold anyway and no amount of money will save them.

That being said.. What kind of "retraining" are you thinking of? Eduction assistance to earn a 2 or 4 year degree in a new field ? Vocational assistance to learn a new trade ? If the latter which trade ?

Construction is in the tank (for now), we do not really manufacture much of anything for export, and frankly don't have much other than entertainment and ideas that the rest of the world wants.

How do we "retrain" and capitalize on our "intellectual property"? That seems to be the only thing going for us right now.

Peace,
MZr7

[leftofthedial]

12. retraining for what?

there are no jobs anywhere.