What is up with automobile manufacturing Down Under? I saw where GM plans to stop producing cars in Australia. Now Ford and Toyota, too!?!? I love my Holden GTO except for not being able to find parts. This must be a devastating blow.

Thats what we get when bureaucrats mixed with businesses.
The bewildered small people got trampled

We've been sticking diamonds up the bum of the various car makers for so long to keep australian production going the gold rod is not warm enough and the diamonds are a bit sharp.
Ford has made zero effort to make a car the population wants, holden not much better, toyota was backed into a corner as all the parts suppliers will close when the first two stop production.
So goodby some 50,000 manufacturing jobs.
CEOS of all these companies should be hung drawn and quartered, some of the union dicks should hang beside them.
I'll go and have a bex and a good lie down now......

Pete is totally correct...although I lay the bulk of the blame squarely at the feet of the Unions. They are more trouble than they are worth and should be closed down and made illegal.

One thing I have never seen is a skinny poor destitute Union boss or Union executive...even when they put the union members out on strike, they still get paid the obscene wages.

I forgot to consider the negative impact unions can have. That's a lot of people who are out of a job.

Hoo-ray for the demize of unions...

Unions have their place, but in this case they made the businesses of at least 2 of these companies untenable. Having said that we are not China and people dont work for a dollar a day, which is what big business would like to pay but keep the price of their product the same.
Ford put no effort into producing a car people wanted to by, what they made was a good product but not what people wanted and they made no effort to export what they did make. They did however have theirbhand out for sub cities constantly. The government eventually said enoughs enough so ford and GM have taken their ball and gone home.
These are the same people who flew their private jets to Washington with their hands out during the gfc and gave themselves bonuses out if the bailout packages.

Ford never took any bailout monies - they stayed in business with effort and not taxpayer money.

Not Aussie Ford branch tho..

PaulS wrote:

Ford never took any bailout monies - they stayed in business with effort and not taxpayer money.

Ford's image was elevated signficantly by not taking the hand-out. They have done well because of it plus their vehicles have improved significantly.

Hey hey hey I belong to a Gov'nt Union, no bashing unions... LOL I really do belong to a big Government Union here in Canada and they do have there place but sometimes you wonder how effective they really are or if you would be better off without them.

Bugger.. there is always one..

I've belonged to a union for more than 38 years, so here's my take on it. Not being a right to work state, we have a choice of either belonging to the union or not working. The unions are nothing but legalized extortion. We pay dues each month which is used to support the left wing politicians we don't want.

I started my battles with unions when I was 15. Been in the front lines against unions ever sense. Long story, but I got caught up in a AFL/CIO news paper strike in Portland, Oregon around 1957-58. I was a lowly paper boy at the time. You could never guess who the union thugs decided to pick on. You guessed it. A 15 year old paper boy. Told my customers that I was a "scab" and not to pay me. Busted up my bike and threw my papers all over a parking lot.

I have never been in a union. Never paid union dues. Never will. I have a better health plan and retirement then most union people. Thank you very much.

The northeast strippers unionized
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It only took a few years for seniority to kill that idea