Drive GM or park elsewhere, workers told

[Bill in SD, CA]

Starting Monday, hourly employees who work at a General Motors plant in St. Catharines, Ont. driving cars and trucks made by other manufacturers, will have to park in a smaller lot south of the components plant or risk having their vehicles towed.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/04/01...king_lot040401

Look for the union label.

Bill

[Theophylact]

Well, the AFL Credit Union in DC allows parking only for American makes. I always thought this was pretty silly, because a lot of "American" cars are actually built in Mexico or Canada, while a lot of "Japanese" cars are entirely manufactured in the States. But logic never interferes with a political gesture.

[Ed_S]

So.... apparently this is new at this plant??
Been that way at the St Louis GM plant forever!!

Preferential treatment for those employees who are also customers of the product they themselves make.

AS IT SHOULD BE!!!!

Bill - why the union comment?? The article states this as a company decision, and doesn't even mention the word "union". As a matter of fact, it quotes one "worker" as being against it. LOL... she gets a nice, long walk to & from work now!!

[U-96]

I would have thought the preferential treatment already occured on the hefty discount those employees got when they bought the thing...

faintly reminds me of another era...

Truck Acts
The rise of manufacturing industry saw many company owners cashing in on their workers by paying them in full or in part with tokens, rather than coin of the realm. These tokens were exchangeable for goods at the company store, often at highly-inflated prices. The Truck Act of 1831 made this practice illegal in many trades, and the law was extended to cover nearly all manual workers in 1887.

[originel]

Preferential treatment for those employees who are also customers of the product they themselves make.

AS IT SHOULD BE!!!!

i don't think it should be forced (and personally i don't see any reason why one should). Do you think every worker works there because they want to work for GM specifically? NO! they just need a job and GM is one of many jobs.

honestly, why should one buy their companies products just because they work for them? i absolutely do not understand this concept.

LOL... she gets a nice, long walk to & from work now!!

i don't see what's so funny about it. it's not like someone can just go buy a new car whenever a new company rule is created. many are lucky to get a new car every 10 years. this isn't just some t-shirt or something we're talking about.

[Mykex]

Nobody is being forced to buy anything, the plant, also a GM showplace (as all manufacturing plants double for at one time or anouter) wants to feature its cars in the main lot.

Good buisness sence IMHO.

This also has nothing to do with the truck act since they are paid in cash and are afforded DISCOUNTS above that of the normal consumer.

[Bill in SD, CA]

The news reports I heard said it wasn't a company idea but came from the employees.

Bill

[truckpuller]

Most of them employees make 60,000 dollars a year but id have a long walk because even if i worked for GM i would not drive one .

[willy_ph]

The CAW local in Windsor are full of idiots anyway. They're the local that proposed the boycott of local businesses whose owners drive cars produced by non-domestic brands (Toyota, Honda, etc). That move didn't exactly go over well at other CAW shops either.

Just another silly move by the local.

[draboo]

Salaried workers have been observing the new rule since mid-March.

sounds to me like it was organized by the salaried workers,not the union members.


i remember seeing a show on the history channel,i think.

it was about the studabaker auto company. it was interesting how strongly the workers felt toward the company. very intense loyalty. there were a few shots of the parking lot and i couldnt see any other auto make parked there.

U 96:the area where i grew up was in a logging boom in the `20s and `30s. there was one area where a company bought all the land in the area,built homes,stores,anything needed to live life,even down to their own script(money). of course,you could only spend at a "company store"

remember the old country song "16 TONS" by tennesee ernie ford?

"st peter doncha call me cause i caint go,i OWE MY SOUL to the company store"

enough rambling,eh?