HBO Documentary: The last truck. Anyone watch it?

I watched it. I kept wondering why they only focused on the workers and not any of the management. I'm sure a good number of them are in the same boat - out of work with little in the way of prospects. I liked it in that it was a documentary in the sense that it documented what was happening and was not a giant editorial. It was much better for that in my opinion.

I just kept thinking that there is not a single thing I found appealing in those SUVs that they were building there. I wouldn't buy one no matter what the price....just don't see the point of a vehicle that gets worse mileage and can carry less than a mini van, not nearly as useful as a pickup when it comes to hauling stuff.

I didnt watch it. Sounds interesting.
I agree with TJ, if they never mentioned management that's very one sided. The workers are screwed, but so it the managers. The managers made some bone-headed decisions (I guess execs more than managers) and so did the workers. The UAW workers and that mentality is as much to blame as anything else.

I think you weren't watching very closely, as I remember they mentioned management quite a few times, talking about how the management made all the money yet drove the company into the ground with all its bad decisions.

aircooled wrote: I think you weren't watching very closely, as I remember they mentioned management quite a few times, talking about how the management made all the money yet drove the company into the ground with all its bad decisions.

The thing is, with a company that large there are many levels of people between the top guys who make the decisions and the guys down on the assembly line who are also affected. My brother was one of those people in the middle (albeit not at GM, but in the same situation); he was an engineer at Chrysler for 30 years, up until he was 'downsized' last fall.

The thing is, with a company that large there are many levels of people between the top guys who make the decisions and the guys down on the assembly line who are also affected. My brother was one of those people in the middle (albeit not at GM, but in the same situation); he an engineer at Chrysler for 30 years, up until he was 'downsized' last fall.

Very true. A common misconception with people who don't understand the auto industry is to think that there are two groups, hourly UAW folks and high-paid managers. There are a ton of worker-bee salaried folks like engineers, designers, accountants, etc. They have just as little say in the corporation as the individual union folks, but they don't have the union to speak for them. They make middle-class wages and are just as vulnerable to job losses as anyone else in the companies. I was one for 15 years at Ford.

Those are the types I think were missing from the film. As far as I can tell all the people who were followed in the film were union assembly line workers. It just sorta left me with the impression that there wasn't a bunch of middle management people equally screwed.

I didn't mean the upper management - don't want another Roger and Me.

I was going to get all ranty and ravey but the another truth is that we have an opportunity to change up the auto industry. That's a good thing. We can get rid of the dinosaurs at the top and start doing some great things. I think Ford is moving in that direction and was before the carpocalypse. GM seemed to be as well but not quite as quickly.

Now we just need to find jobs for the displaced rust belters.

I grew up about 20 miles from this plant, and in college, I worked about 1/4 mile from it. This plant was the old Frigidaire plant (which was a GM company), and when it closed, GM decided to build S10 Blazers there. The union was IUE-CWA, not UAW, and it was the only non-UAW GM plant in the US. Any UAW concessions that were finally made weren't made at this plant, where additional union concessions had to be negotiated. Don't think this particular union acted any different than the UAW, though.

I'm a huge GM fan. I've owned mostly GM cars in the past, and I'll probably own more in the future. Hearing some of the quality issues, though, makes me think my wife's preference for Honda may be a better choice.

In 1996, I had a GM engineer from Detroit come into my auto parts store and inquire about how much 3M double-side tape he could buy. After making a few calls, I was able to locate quite a few rolls ($1,000's in sales, if the purchase was approved). Apparently, the cladding on all of the Olds Bravadas was falling off in the lot, before they made it to the transport trucks/trains. The purchase was never approved.

Dayton, Ohio was a very automotive-oriented city. Charles Kettering lived there, where he first worked for NCR (National Cash Register, which now has a fraction of the workforce they once had there). Kettering electrified the cash register-ever see a really old register where you had a handle? The same motor technology became his starter motor. Delco stands for Dayton Engineering Laboratory Company. Dayton Wire Wheels were used by the Wright Brothers (again, Dayton) as well as Cords and other exclusive cars.

I haven't seen the show, but I want to. It's sad to see the demise of GM in SW Ohio (and elsewhere), but the blame can't be placed solely upon any one factor.