Holden comes to an end

[davidc4430]

Holden closure: Australia's history of car manufacturing comes to an end

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-08/holden-closure-australia-history-car-manufacturing/9015562

the lady is making air filter boxes not wheel rims btw.

[chameleon54]

Its a sad end to a major manufacturer. There are a number of reasons why Holden could no longer compete with other manufacturers, but one of the biggest was the fact the unions had continually driven up wages and conditions to the point where each assembly line worker is reported to have cost the company over 100K per year. The business was simply unsustainable with those labour costs. Basically the workers ever increasing wages demands eventually meant they priced themselves out of a job. They may have to lower their expectations a little bit now that they are facing employment out in the real world.

[davidc4430]

are you saying because there are countries where they allow their worker bees to be exploited and be paid paltry sums for doind very good work and where they have poor workplace practices also lowering costs that we should also tear up the workers rights in this country to compete?

how much the workers get paid is one part of a much larger puzzle that caused our motor industry to close.

please dont just bash the unions and workers for the demise.

and it doesnt matter where one works in australia the employer must pay the correct rate and supply a safe working enviroment plus do all the other employer required items on the list.

most of which workers in the countries where you next holden wont be getting.

the govt in signing endless agreements to create a 'level' playing ground ended the motor industry as much as unions or anyone else.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

For years, the car-buying public have been moving to smaller cars, or SUVs. Family-sized sedans are pretty much only used as fleet cars or taxis nowadays; if people want a family-sized vehicle, they'll most likely go for an SUV. Nissan stopped making family-sized sedans locally, then MItsubishi.

Holden's response? "You'll have more Commodores, and you'll damned well like them, ay".

Pretty much anything that wasn't a Commodore derivative was sourced from overseas, mostly Opel and Isuzu. Their "answers" revolved around modified Commodores - public wants SUVs? Whack a lift-kit under a Commodore wagon, and call it Adventra. Public wants dual-cab utes? Extend the Commodore ute and call it Crewman. Export market? More Commodores.

Had they stopped the "Local manufacturing = Commodore" mindset and developed locally designed and built smaller vehicles and SUVs a decade ago, they'd very possibly still be making cars today - just not Commodores.

[davidc4430]

i drive a commodore stationwagon, best car ive ever had.

that being said, i think your saying holden and i guess ford had bad business plans.

you may well be right. but you cant argue trying to match countries with poorly paid workers with govt subsitys ect was allways going to force local manufacture to close.

its never just about any 1 bit of the puzzle that closes an industy...ie: workers wages.

its a whole lot of pieces,

workers pay (entitlements)

rates and taxes paid to various levels of govt

electricity, gas ect

steel costs.

plastic costs

incorporating the latest gizmos.

the board of directors pay, how much were they getting per year?

all the white collar workers.

how many items on the list are 'helped out' by govts of countries where our cars will be made in the future?

[chameleon54]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

are you saying because there are countries where they allow their worker bees to be exploited and be paid paltry sums for doind very good work and where they have poor workplace practices also lowering costs that we should also tear up the workers rights in this country to compete?

how much the workers get paid is one part of a much larger puzzle that caused our motor industry to close.

please dont just bash the unions and workers for the demise.

and it doesnt matter where one works in australia the employer must pay the correct rate and supply a safe working enviroment plus do all the other employer required items on the list.

most of which workers in the countries where you next holden wont be getting.

the govt in signing endless agreements to create a 'level' playing ground ended the motor industry as much as unions or anyone else.

---

You are correct in saying that the workers and unions demanding ridiculous rates of pay for low skilled jobs is only one part of the problem, but it is a major part.

If you where the manager of a global car manufacturing company, would you consider continueing to build cars in Australia where you have greedy, militant unions who have pushed wages and conditions to stupid levels, when there are more attractive options elsewhere ? .............Its a no-brainer, so why did it take the closure of the company before people finally twigged...... The answer is simple........GREED !!!.

The automotive workers are not the only Australian employees who have pushed demand for wages and conditions way past what they can realistically justify, but they are a shining example of how the story ends when you effectivly price yourself out of a job.

The ecenomics of Australian wages is very simple. As a nation we are spending more than we are earning. We are paying ourselves more than we deserve for what we produce. The gap is currently being made up from two sources. One is the export of bulk commodities and the other is foreign debt. Each year our national debt rises and currently Australian households are some of the most indebted in the world. Eventually wages must fall to more realistic levels and people will have to accept lower standards of living. If we refuse, we will all end up like the Holden workers and their union. ............Unemployed and with wages expectations that make us uncompetative and unemployable.  

[chameleon54]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

i drive a commodore stationwagon, best car ive ever had.

that being said, i think your saying holden and i guess ford had bad business plans.

you may well be right. but you cant argue trying to match countries with poorly paid workers with govt subsitys ect was allways going to force local manufacture to close.

its never just about any 1 bit of the puzzle that closes an industy...ie: workers wages.

its a whole lot of pieces,

workers pay (entitlements)

rates and taxes paid to various levels of govt

electricity, gas ect

steel costs.

plastic costs

incorporating the latest gizmos.

the board of directors pay, how much were they getting per year?

all the white collar workers.

how many items on the list are 'helped out' by govts of countries where our cars will be made in the future?

---

For what its worth David, I thought the Liberal Government was more interested in sticking it up the unions and playing politics, rather than good policy when they announced the end to subsidies to the car manufacturers.

The car industry has been a cornerstone of manufacturing in Australia for decades and may have had a future if government, the manufacturers and unions had worked together in a more co-operative way.

The amount of money, governments where giving to the manufacturers was much less than the ecenomic damage that has been done, by the companies closing. While I dont agree with the principle of handing out money willy nilly, in this case a pragmatist would admit it was a good investment.

[davidc4430]

i'm pretty sure both partys are guilty of signing international agreements stopping subsitys. but it was as you say the libs who did nothing at the time when the major car makers finaly said it was game over.

i'm sure the fed govt knew the anouncement was comming long before it was made.

did they play 'chicken' with the 3 car companys and lose? kinda looks that way.

i still go back to my thoughts on just what govts in the countries toyota, ford and holden move manufacturing to are offering for their business? free land?, discounted energy?, and of course very low wages. and who knows what else.

[bsal6160]

why should the governemnt subsidise a private company? i dont see them subsidising WOOLIES or COLES or JOES CORNER COFFEE SHOP so why a car maker?

[davidc4430]

govt should not subsidise private companys, and thats why we are losing companys to foreign countries that do subsidise companys.

these countries offer big companys all kinds of benifits to set up in their countys, benifits our govt cant or wont match.