Boycott Chevy Blazer

[NW-99SS]

Originally Posted by Realist

It appears their are 2 folks here saying buy the vehicles assembled here in the US. Problem is, their profile picture show vehicles that were assembled in Canada. It cracks me up. Guess it’s a do as I say, not as I do for some.

I think for GM to continue to be successful they need profits and value returned to shareholders. The are doing this unfortunately by shifting some manufacturing outside our boarders to lower wage countries. They use the savings from doing that to cover the overhead and additional costs of doing it here in the US with overburdened taxes and with their current workforce. That is all they can do because the workforce won’t let them have a non-union workforce here in the US. It’s really that simple. I want the vehicles made here in the US but quite frankly our vehicles are over priced compared to much of the competition. It’s not only the workforce but the savings in CEO and management that put better value into some of the competition. If given the choice, I would rather see it go to Mexico instead of Canada as their is no savings when assembled up there. No offense to any neighbors up north, it’s just the competitive nature and environment we live in. While Wall Street has been good for many, it’s now also hurting many workers here in the US via outsourcing and reduction in competition.

I'm Canadian, and no issue with buying Canadian or US assembled vehicles, just prefer not to have a Mexican assembled car or truck.

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Blazer is built on the C1XX platform. Same as Acadia, XT5 and the new XT6. All the others will be built in Spring Hill, Tennessee. GM is pumping a lot of money into that campus. That campus includes the assembly plant building the vehicles I just mentioned and an engine plant that makes 4-cylinder and 8-cylinder engines.

Here's a clip from the linked article. The linked article is more about investment in the engine plant.


In addition to the new investment, GM is completing a previously announced $300 million investment at the complex for production of the all-new Cadillac XT6. Spring Hill will be adding more than 200 jobs for the all-new, three-row Cadillac crossover.
GM’s Spring Hill Manufacturing complex consists of a flexible vehicle assembly plant and an engine plant. On the vehicle side, the plant produces the GMC Acadia, Holden Acadia and Cadillac XT5. In addition, Cadillac just unveiled the all-new Cadillac XT6 and the plant will begin building the vehicle later this year. The engine plant builds four- and eight-cylinder engines.

The Spring Hill complex opened in 1990 and currently employs about 3,800 people.

https://plants.gm.com/media/us/en/gm...pringhill.html

So Blazer is on the same platform as the Traverse?

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by NW-99SS

I'm Canadian, and no issue with buying Canadian or US assembled vehicles, just prefer not to have a Mexican assembled car or truck.



So Blazer is on the same platform as the Traverse?

Yes. Platform has 2 row and 3 row configurations. Think Tahoe --> Suburban, FWD style.

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by Iron Lung Jimmy

Because nobody would buy it.

US workers want to be paid well for their labor... nothing wrong with that... but US consumers shop price to an almost ridiculous degree. So something has to give.

Keep wages low to keep the price competitive with foreign products and the companies are made out to be greedy bastards and everybody quits. Charge a high enough price to support more expensive labor and the companies are looked upon as greedy bastards and nobody buys the product.

So what are you going to do?

THIS

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by Iron Lung Jimmy

Because nobody would buy it.

US workers want to be paid well for their labor... nothing wrong with that... but US consumers shop price to an almost ridiculous degree. So something has to give.

Keep wages low to keep the price competitive with foreign products and the companies are made out to be greedy bastards and everybody quits. Charge a high enough price to support more expensive labor and the companies are looked upon as greedy bastards and nobody buys the product.

So what are you going to do?

Preach.

[BMR Sales]

Originally Posted by NW-99SS

Also incorrect...hence why there are proven discrepancies between the same product, assembled from the same materials/parts, but from two different factories located in different countries.

that happens in the US. When I worked for Mohawk Industries ( Carpet ), they built a new facility and moved the Weaving machines to the new plant. They couldn't make the same products as before.

[90503]

Why boycott the Blazer?

‎January‎ ‎10‎, ‎2019

Why boycott the Blazer? With the Detroit International Auto Show days away and the Blazer being new for this year, it's the perfect time to stand in solidarity with our Union brothers and sisters and fellow Americans.

Mary Barra's decision to not allocate product to 5 plants was a total violation of a contract bargained in good faith. GM will notify the UAW before any plant closings or being tagged as idle. Barra sidestepped this and used language that conveyed the same intent, while violating the negotiated terms of the contract. It was sneaky and well planned.

The statement from GM that 2700 will be transferred to other plants is based on truth, but also a huge lie. What they forget to mention is the families and towns left behind. The economic impact to the Lordstown area will huge. All those businesses that employees shop, eat, and get entertained at will all suffer. Not to mention the family impact. They are being forced to leave family and friends behind, to be moved to who knows where.

What could have been to prevent this? Build the Blazer, Cruz, Sonic, Envision and Cadillac CT-6 plug in hybrid in America. The truth of the matter is Mexico has a cheaper labor rate anywhere from $1.90 to $3.48 and hour. they are also forced to join what they call a union (which is pretty much a racketeering business), that provides the jobs in plants in return for half of the workers pay. It's equivalent to sweat shop labor. And GM never passes the price reduction to you, the consumer.

Corporate greed is what's going on here. During bankruptcy GM took money from the US Government to restructure, asked the employees to make concessions, and that we would pave the way forward together. Until it became inconvenient. Any of these cars could be built in the US and be profitable. Look at the Silverado/Sierra. All HD trucks will be built in Flint Mi, whereas all 1500 trucks are built between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Silao, Mexico. Do the look different? Perform different? No. Is the cost the same for both trucks? Yes.

Those trucks built in Mexico are built using sweat shop labor to line the pockets of the CEO, Board and Shareholders. Mary Barra announced 15,000 lay offs while taking nearly 22 million in compensation, for selling out America and American workers and small businesses.

Yes we understand that cars may not be selling at the moment. We also know that was as Americans build world class vehicles and support our towns and local communities and put money back into the local economy. Why can't GM be a good corporate citizen and do the same?

[FenwickHockey65]

Sonic already IS built in the US. In fact when it launched a lot of people questioned the assembly facility decision because at its price point, there's no way GM made much if any money off it.

[NW-99SS]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Yes. Platform has 2 row and 3 row configurations. Think Tahoe --> Suburban, FWD style.

Ughh...

So completely unnecessary. Sad - then again after such a terrible experience with the Terrain we purchased in 2012, plus my work Traverse, I won't ever own another transverse engine mounted GM anything.

[Realist]

Originally Posted by 90503

Why boycott the Blazer?

‎January‎ ‎10‎, ‎2019

Why boycott the Blazer? With the Detroit International Auto Show days away and the Blazer being new for this year, it's the perfect time to stand in solidarity with our Union brothers and sisters and fellow Americans.

Mary Barra's decision to not allocate product to 5 plants was a total violation of a contract bargained in good faith. GM will notify the UAW before any plant closings or being tagged as idle. Barra sidestepped this and used language that conveyed the same intent, while violating the negotiated terms of the contract. It was sneaky and well planned.

The statement from GM that 2700 will be transferred to other plants is based on truth, but also a huge lie. What they forget to mention is the families and towns left behind. The economic impact to the Lordstown area will huge. All those businesses that employees shop, eat, and get entertained at will all suffer. Not to mention the family impact. They are being forced to leave family and friends behind, to be moved to who knows where.

What could have been to prevent this? Build the Blazer, Cruz, Sonic, Envision and Cadillac CT-6 plug in hybrid in America. The truth of the matter is Mexico has a cheaper labor rate anywhere from $1.90 to $3.48 and hour. they are also forced to join what they call a union (which is pretty much a racketeering business), that provides the jobs in plants in return for half of the workers pay. It's equivalent to sweat shop labor. And GM never passes the price reduction to you, the consumer.

Corporate greed is what's going on here. During bankruptcy GM took money from the US Government to restructure, asked the employees to make concessions, and that we would pave the way forward together. Until it became inconvenient. Any of these cars could be built in the US and be profitable. Look at the Silverado/Sierra. All HD trucks will be built in Flint Mi, whereas all 1500 trucks are built between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Silao, Mexico. Do the look different? Perform different? No. Is the cost the same for both trucks? Yes.

Those trucks built in Mexico are built using sweat shop labor to line the pockets of the CEO, Board and Shareholders. Mary Barra announced 15,000 lay offs while taking nearly 22 million in compensation, for selling out America and American workers and small businesses.

Yes we understand that cars may not be selling at the moment. We also know that was as Americans build world class vehicles and support our towns and local communities and put money back into the local economy. Why can't GM be a good corporate citizen and do the same?

That is good money in Mexico. You can’t compare $’s paid here and $’s paid there there. They don’t have to deal with the same environmental regulations, management staff cost and taxes because they don’t have $100k plus public sector employees and so much more. I have a number of renters, many Mexican, who split their lives between the US and Mexico. Obviously they will take the retirement $’s to Mexico when the time comes. But I can tell you, they say those folks are doing well and I believe them over the info your union is pushing your direction. And again I mentioned before, the $’s they save putting them together in Mexico is helping fund the UAW’s worker compensations. The only way GM can profit now on the US built vehicles is the high $ ones. It’s not just about the wage, it’s the benefits and the pension costs. The problem is, wage plus benefits plus pension plus Wall Street expectations equals not good for many US employees. Sad and same thing in other Wall Street companies that outsource overseas or bring in H-B1’s for the jobs here. We have all been sold out by the major corporations.

If GM pays them $5 an hour and they join the UAW will that resolve the UAW’s concern?

A question for the one who brought up Costco as comparison as I’m very curious. What does a 10 year employee of Costco performing Janitor duties make in wages, benefits and pension and how does that compare to the same at a GM assembly plant?

[mickss]

Let me make one thing very clear before I go on with why in my opinion boycotting Blazer`s is a bad idea. First as a retired GM-UAW worker I don`t agree with or support the moving of an assembly plant to Mexico but here`s the problem with boycotting Mexican assembled Blazers and the operative word here is "Assembled". What country/countries do you think all those parts that make a Blazer come from? I`m going to guess and it`s only a guess on my part that a lot of those parts are made in the US and Canada and shipped to Mexico for assembly. By boycotting Mexican assembled Blazers you risk the layoff and the jobs of thousands of US and Canadian union and non-union workers who work at automotive parts suppliers and vendors who make suspension, interior, electrical components, drive train components, ect. used in the assembly of the Blazer. It`s a damned if you do, damned if you don`t situation but I`m not willing to risk the jobs of innocent parts suppliers because some greedy CEO wants make a few million dollars more for themselves and stock investors. If you want to choose not to buy and boycott a Blazer that was made in Mexico then that`s your right to do so. I hope a boycott has the desired effect of bring lost jobs back to the US but I`m not hopeful that will happen any time soon or ever with or without a boycott.

[JamesNoBrakes]

Originally Posted by mickss

Let me make one thing very clear before I go on with why in my opinion boycotting Blazer`s is a bad idea. First as a retired GM-UAW worker I don`t agree with or support the moving of an assembly plant to Mexico but here`s the problem with boycotting Mexican assembled Blazers and the operative word here is "Assembled". What country/countries do you think all those parts that make a Blazer come from? I`m going to guess and it`s only a guess on my part that a lot of those parts are made in the US and Canada and shipped to Mexico for assembly. By boycotting Mexican assembled Blazers you risk the layoff and the jobs of thousands of US and Canadian union and non-union workers who work at automotive parts suppliers and vendors who make suspension, interior, electrical components, drive train components, ect. used in the assembly of the Blazer. It`s a damned if you do, damned if you don`t situation but I`m not willing to risk the jobs of innocent parts suppliers because some greedy CEO wants make a few million dollars more for themselves and stock investors. If you want to choose not to buy and boycott a Blazer that was made in Mexico then that`s your right to do so. I hope a boycott has the desired effect of bring lost jobs back to the US but I`m not hopeful that will happen any time soon or ever with or without a boycott.

I think the reality that too many people are ignorant to is that we live in a global economy, in so far as companies that originated and have large presences here, sell and manufacture abroad. The world isn't black and white in this regard, it's several shades of grey and a balance must be maintained, but it's not as simple as "all cars are produced in (insert country here)" or even "all cars bought in the US must be produced in the US". It simply doesn't work like that. If we limit our businesses ability to compete abroad, we only hurt ourselves and limit our ability to compete with the rest of the world. We will never be a "manufacturing power" like back in the 1940s, we originate technology, develop new processes, find new markets, etc. It's very naive to think you can pound out the same widget for 30 years, someone will always come along that figures out how to do it faster, cheaper, easier, more efficiently, expanding into different markets, and so on. The only way to stay on top is to constantly change. In that respect, our power isn't in manufacturing production lines, it's in developing new stuff.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

I think the reality that too many people are ignorant to is that we live in a global economy, in so far as companies that originated and have large presences here, sell and manufacture abroad. The world isn't black and white in this regard, it's several shades of grey and a balance must be maintained, but it's not as simple as "all cars are produced in (insert country here)" or even "all cars bought in the US must be produced in the US". It simply doesn't work like that. If we limit our businesses ability to compete abroad, we only hurt ourselves and limit our ability to compete with the rest of the world. We will never be a "manufacturing power" like back in the 1940s, we originate technology, develop new processes, find new markets, etc. It's very naive to think you can pound out the same widget for 30 years, someone will always come along that figures out how to do it faster, cheaper, easier, more efficiently, expanding into different markets, and so on. The only way to stay on top is to constantly change. In that respect, our power isn't in manufacturing production lines, it's in developing new stuff.

And I'll add we hire and employee folks from around the world to work here in the US as well.
I would say almost half of my work area of ~50 people are not US citizens.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

I think the reality that too many people are ignorant to is that we live in a global economy, in so far as companies that originated and have large presences here, sell and manufacture abroad. The world isn't black and white in this regard, it's several shades of grey and a balance must be maintained, but it's not as simple as "all cars are produced in (insert country here)" or even "all cars bought in the US must be produced in the US". It simply doesn't work like that. If we limit our businesses ability to compete abroad, we only hurt ourselves and limit our ability to compete with the rest of the world. We will never be a "manufacturing power" like back in the 1940s, we originate technology, develop new processes, find new markets, etc. It's very naive to think you can pound out the same widget for 30 years, someone will always come along that figures out how to do it faster, cheaper, easier, more efficiently, expanding into different markets, and so on. The only way to stay on top is to constantly change. In that respect, our power isn't in manufacturing production lines, it's in developing new stuff.

Nailed it.

[mlee]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Nailed it.

Yes he did.

Went to the Houston Auto Show today and Blazer is just too small. Much like the Colorado that I didn't like for the same reason. Will stick with the Tahoe.