Guy White, United Automobile Worker’s shop chairman, says that employees at the GM Baltimore Powertrain plant feel like pawns. White called the closure of the plant a modern-day lockout the automaker would use as leverage at the negotiating table later this year. General Motors told employees that production at the plant would end May 4th and nearly 300 workers will lose their jobs.
General Motors announced late last November that was planning to idle five North American factories, including the GM Baltimore powertrain that produces the six-speed Allison A1000 transmission for the current-generation Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD pickup trucks. The factory also produced the electric drive motors for the Cadillac CT6 PHEV. The announcements come at a time that the GM-based automaker is restructuring its business to focus on developing electric and autonomous vehicles.
While many employees may be able to stay employed at General Motors by accepting positions at other GM factories, not everyone working at GM Baltimore is as fortunate. WYPR spoke with Kip Hinton, a contract employee who works at the plant. He doesn’t have the opportunity to transfer and, when production ends on May 4th, he’ll lose his much-needed medical benefits, which are crucial for his wife who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Hinton said he needs the benefits more than the money, as his wife’s medical care costs thousands of dollars. She’s was prescribed one medication that costs $14,000 a month, while also needing a $3,000 yearly MRI.
But it’s not just employees who are upset. U.S. Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, whose district includes GM Baltimore, is angry. He put a significant effort in helping bail out the automaker during the 2008 recession.
But White said he understood the truth – GM makes more money when it sends jobs to Mexico. He told WYPR it doesn’t make sense to pay someone $30 an hour when the company can pay someone $3 an hour to do the same job. In 2018, General Motors became Mexico’s largest automaker.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Silverado news, Sierra news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Source:Â WYPR
Comments
Congratulations to GM, now Mexico’s largest automaker while being one of their lowest selling Brands! Now that is an accomplishment! Even Mexicans are smart enough to buy Toyotas, Hondas, and Hyundais over GM.
Brian W.
Toyota’s U.S. sales have fallen slightly in the last few years. Even as the company is selling more and more vehicles to rental fleets.
Hyundai’s profits fell for 6 years straight. Last year the company lost money.
Honda announced they will be closing their 2 European factories.
GM has more factories in the U.S than Toyota, Honda & Hyundai combined.
And their corporate profit tax monies stay in the USA. Don’t forget we bailed Chrysler out and they moved their corporate HQ to London. So guess who gets the benefit of our tax payer money bailout for Chrysler…..England
Who cares where they are based as long as they are investing in the US and not disinfecting like GM is. FCA has its HQ in the Netherlands and most of the major manufacturing, engineering, and administrative functions are in Michigan. FCA has no major ops in England. In fact FCA annonced close to $5 billion in investments in Michigan and Ontario.
GM has invested well over $5B in the US in the last few years.
Gee don’t tell that to all the folks in Auburn Hills or the Sterling Heights assembly plant working 3 shifts turning out Rams.
Pumping out bottom of the barrel quality 3 shifts a day. Whatever happened to that Ram plant in Mexico that was supposed to be moved back to the US? Rumor has it once the trade agreement is in place, the Saltillo plant will be expanding if anything.
GM imports more Chinese vehicles into the U.S. than all the other automakers in the world combined. Just like GM did to Holden in Australia, this is just the beginning for the U.S. Corporate profits and management bonuses over corporate responsibility.
GM only imports one vehicle into the U.S. – the Buick Envision. It’s no more than 5,000 units per month, and the reasons for doing so have been outlined here in the past. The CT6 PHEV was another model, until a few months ago…. less than 1,000 units a month were imported.
Ford imports vehicles to the US from India and Spain. The Ford Ecosport is made in India.
My heart goes out to these people. So much for Machete Mary’s lies that nearly all of the laid off employees from these plants will get jobs at other GM plants across the nation.
don’t sell your houses!!! 76,000 jobs coming after USCAM is approved.
I took a tour through the plant with the Smithsonian in the early 70’s when they were still assembling entire mid-sized cars. It was a bit eye-opening how much hand work was involved in finishing and painting the body. This was near the nadir of GM’s fit and finish problems.
Then no wonder they lost market share
The transmission plant is a new plant. The assembly plant was ripped down some time ago.
I have been buying GM cars for 35 years. I now have 2018 Volt, a 2018 Terrain, and a 2016 Cruze. I can’t see myself ever buying a GM product again. Besides discarding their lineup of great American made cars, they discard their employees with no care to them nor the communities they ruin. The next car I buy must come from a maker that cares about American workers even if I have to pay a little more.
Are you kidding me? A company that cares about their employees!!! That’s a joke right!!! Here’s a hint, none of them do!!! Your delusional.
It seems to me that GM is the only manufacture that has to play by these rules!
Do these people who work in these factories think these jobs are just going to be around until they retire? With zero interruptions?
Indeed. Toyota is threatening to move Camry production out of the US and they’ve moved manufacturing of truck axles and the Tacoma out of the country in the last few years. Yet you hear no complaints that Toyota is moving jobs out of the country. The same with Ford who has also moved more and more manufacturing to China and Mexcio. It’s ironic that taxpayers helped pay for the development of the Ecoboost engines yet the job of making those engines is often created in Mexico, China, Spain, etc. I see that the 2018+ 3.5 Ecoboost is now a product of Mexico, not the US.
Honda is adding transmission manufacturing jobs at Columbus. Their executive pay is a fraction of what GM pays their fat cats so they can easily afford build where they sell.
Accord, Civic, CRV, NSX, Pilot, Ridgeline are all built in the USA. No, you’ll never get 20% off on a new one but it you’ll have far better resale value on the other end than on your shitty Chevy, and you won’t have to see that check engine light in the meantime.
GM still makes more vehicles in the U.S. than Honda does… or ever will.
NSX? They make 300 NSXes a month, on a good month. Bowling Green makes 2,000 Corvettes a month.
Pilot? No more than 15,000 units are produced in a given month with non-powertrain parts sourced from Japan. GM makes 40,000 units its mid-size and full-size crossovers between Lansing Delta Township and Spring Hill, with the overwhelming majority parts sources from within the North American region.
The profits from GM sales stay in the U.S. Even profit in other markets, such as GM China, flows back into the U.S. Where does Honda send profit made from U.S.? To Japan. Where does Honda send profit generated in other markets? Also to Japan.
What you do get with Honda is a CVT transmission that will take a dump after 60,000 miles, while sapping the life out of the engine and making it feel impotent – regardless of mileage.
Thank you Alex!
alex –
what do you mean when you say gm’s profit flows back the the US?
they haven’t paid income taxes for about a decade and will not pay any for the next several years.
in fact, since 2009, gm has received $450 million in tax refunds depite tens of billions in profits over the last 10 years.
Alex – Taking on Honda for design and longevity issues is a pretty gutsy call considering results over the years.
Well Honda has been known for crap transmissions for years and the CVT’s will not live a long life. They also suffered issues with the 2.0 liter Civic engines and now the 1.5T engine that runs rich and floods the engine bearings for an early failure rate. The Odessey Minivan has been junk for years despite C&D’s love affair with all things Honda, many of their vehicles suffer from crap brakes and excessive road noise and I have personally witnessed shoddy workmanship on freshly delivered Mexican made Fits. Now I’ll be the first to admit their Accord, CRV and Pilot are well made vehicles that seem to last but not everything is perfect in Hondaland.
Honda’s reliability has been terrible for nearly two decades now. Bad transmissions, Honda Civics with cracked engine blocks, brakes that *might* last 20,000 miles before they’re shot, engines with massive oil consumption issues that even led to lawsuits, engines with valve wear issues, vehicles with terrible paint and clear coats that would literally peel off after a few years, LED headlights that fail every other year and costs thousands to replace, etc. Honda vehicles sold in the US are very overrated and Honda’s slipping in reliability rankings reflect that.
Honda has a strong presence on this list….
https://www.carcomplaints.com/worst_vehicles/
My daughter had a late 2000’s Civic. It was total junk. It eventually needed a new engine after a valve chipped and the metal tore up the cylinder wall. Honda’s brakes remind me of the dark days of domestic manufacturers’ cheap brakes. Seemed like every other year I was replacing calipers or rotors. The paint was horrible too.
magirus
Thursday, Honda announced it will be cutting production at its Maryville Indiana plant down to 1 shift. I take it that means they plan on selling far fewer Accords in North America.
But Honda and the rest of the Foreign Auto Makers DO NOT pay Union Wages now do they?
Why is it all these politicians are calling out GM for closing plants down, but NONE of them (Specifically Southern States) call out Foreign Auto Makers for NOT Unionizing like our Big Three have to be?
Oh that is right, because politicians don’t actually support Unions they just like bashing GM right now because it is the popular thing to do. I am so sick and tired of this whole GM Bashing. It is getting utterly ridiculous.
I bash GM because they have allowed the Beancounters to run the company once again. That is the reason why Lordstown is closing. The Cruze was a Subpar attempt by the General. Honda can’t sell Accords and Civics right now as they have to close shifts but you guys here think that GM had a shot at selling the Cruze in high enough volumes? Come on now. Lets all get serious. Stop blindly listening to what Politicians are saying and think for yourself.
I am NOT in a Union. My job is never going to Unionize but I can sit back and think for myself about what is happening in our very own Country and no politician will even touch the real subject.
Look for yourselves what percentage of Jobs were Union jobs in the ’70’s and look at how many we have today. Believe me, Politicians DO NOT support Union jobs. They support giving out subsidized Tax breaks (mostly in Southern States) to foreign Auto Makers so they can keep getting votes. GM and Ford are in a HUGE disadvantage on their own Home Turf. It is a Disgrace what our Politicians have done these last 40 years.
You guys think Europe or Japan would ever allow our Big Three to get Tax breaks and NOT hire Union workers if we build Factories on their Turf?
I’m with many others in my disappointment with the turn of events at GM with regards to outsourcing and offshoring. My lifelong loyalty is put aside, and my Caddy has been replaced by a Euro Brand. Having said all that, GM is doing what most other U.S. corporation have done, from Hanes Brands clothes to every TV sold in the US. It seems that US companies mostly have no problem trading American labor for more profit. It’s become the American way. I just came back from shopping at my favorite warehouse club, and the only domestic products I could purchase was food.
I hope they closed the plant where they make 8L45 transmission…I had a 2013 ATS with 6 speed automatic and it was fine.My new 2017 ATS with the 8 speed is HORRIBLE..1st -2nd upshift is terrible,slips and then “bangs into 2nd to the point where you think its going to break…For further information …Google “GM 8L45 Transmission Issues”…Seems to be class action lawsuits filed against GM for this problem…Im looking for a fix for the problem
The plant that made the 8LXX wasn’t the problem… it was the design of the transmission to begin with. GM hasn’t really addressed these issues to my knowledge, and has “fixed” the issues by introducing the new 10LXX 10-speed.
The 8L90/45 shudder issues were due to an issue with the new Dexron HP that was first used in… the 8Lxx transmissions. Exxon Mobil and GM eventually identified that the transmission fluid was hygroscopic. As it absorbs moisture through the housing vent, the fluid’s viscosity changes and issues with shudder and hard shifts begin to occur because the calibrations were done with the initial viscosity. This is why when earlier TSB procedures called for flushing the transmission, the issue usually went away for a while. As the viscosity began to change, the problem came back. A new TSB was recently released (#18-NA-355) that instructs the technician to flush the transmission using a new version of Dexron HP. It should fix 99% of issues with it. It’s a shame that they didn’t just stick with Dexron VI. The issues probably wouldn’t have occurred at all.
https://gm-techlink.com/?p=11127
From what I’ve read on some message boards the new fluid seems to be working well. It makes sense and explains why the problem went away when they would flush the trans with the old fluid, but come back quickly.
Sorry Mrs [word removed by profanity filter] CEO at GM, you just lost a family of GM owners that’s 12 of us that won’t by your products. You don’t support the American worker we’ll we won’t support you either. Want to continue to play your games so will the American consumers. And when your company is in bankruptcy no one wins.
GM still employs more US workers than any other auto manufacturer. Ford is a close 2nd.
The Allison 1000 is a great transmission. I thank the craftsman at the plant that put them together. When I hear about a plant like this closing so they can put more people to work in Mexico, it doesn’t set well with me. Bad decision Mary.
My family and I have ALWAYS bought Chevy or I should say General Motors. My Dad and Mom refused to drive anything other than a Buick or Silverado their entire lives. Me, at age 45 started with an Oldsmobile and then bought an 88’ I-ROC and after that it’s been Z28 or SS every since. The more I look how GM is treating their decades of dedicated employees my next vehicle will be a Charger, Challenger or Mustang! Pathetic giving Americans jobs to Mexicans more and more. I don’t see why we have a border problem all the damn jobs are going there. I guess the 2 women that are now in charge of GM will leave quite a legacy…. SAD!
Don’t buy a Mustang then. The 10-speed is junk and their only manual transmission is a failure prone made in China transmission. Oh and the new 2018+ 5.0 is a piston slapping clunker.
Isn’t the 10 speed trans a Ford-GM joint venture?
It’s not just cars and trucks, manufacturing has been taken to the lowest common denominator. Walmart sells TVs too big to fit my wall for way less than I paid for my 1/2 that size TV 5 years ago. I have a feeling the people assembling those monsters don’t make big money. And if they tried to raise their wages……..
Didn’t Reagan say something like “vote with your feet” when he visited Flint around 1980?
They didn’t do this sort of thing quickly enough in the past, which is ultimately why they needed to be bailed out. That made people furious.
They try a different approach now in the hope that they’ll never need another bailout, and the same people are furious again. Can’t win with some of you people.
There’s a reason union membership is at an all time low. Their oppressive demands encourage businesses to relocate (even more quickly than non-union shops). Those that won’t relocate for cheaper labor will face the same fate as the thousands of stubborn manufactures that went belly up over the last 50 years because “made in murica or bust” was their MO. Many of you foolishly want GM to take that same ill conceived approach to running their business.
Honestly I’m shocked that any auto manufacturer still has plants in union friendly states, given that they can’t fire crappy workers and have to pay astronomical salaries and benefits packages.
GM might be profitable right now, but waiting for another downturn before making this kind of move could be too late. Chrysler is already no longer an American car company. Do you folks really want to see the big three reduced to the big one?
Gm is making a huge mistake. I own a 2014 Cruse and absolutely love it. The Allison transmission has a tremendous reputation. Why would you mess with that kind of success?
GM didn’t restructure when they “restructured” equally nearly a decade ago. One of the biggest changes made was the termination of retired non union employees who received a letter telling them that they no longer had their promised health insurance but a monthly check for 200 dollars. I briefly worked at a Delphi plant whose hourly wages were at least 10 per hour less than our GM holdovers who two decades ago were broaching 30 an hour by the time they added their COLA and shift premium. GM needs to complete with their US competitors who hire in around the 15 dollar p/hour range with the a bit over time to approach 20 p/hour and slightly more for skilled trade jobs. Another thing that Delphi and other US manufacturing plants have learned is that Legacy cost can bring a company to its knees. Nearly all of the forementioned facilities health insurance end at or shortly after retirement.
I believe if the big three were ready to make those difficult decisions we would see US manufacturing thrive beyond our wildest dreams. If we’re honest with each other a production worker shouldn’t make at or more than family practicioners who spent 8 to 10 yeats in college and usually begin their practice with 500 thousand in medical school loans.
all auto’s no matter where they are made use sheet metal from china.aka rust bucket in 4 years
I hear ya! Hopefully the anti-corrosion product is made in America.