Sign Of The Times

General Motors Rethinks Daytona Sponsorship

General Motors Corp. has not decided whether to renew a decades-long sponsorship of the Daytona International Speedway and its signature stock car race, the Daytona 500, despite the deal's expiration in three weeks. GM has a multiyear agreement that ends Dec. 31 to serve as the official car and truck provider of the speedway and the Daytona 500, NASCAR's most prestigious event, speedway spokesman Andrew Booth said Thursday. The race is Feb. 15. GM said discussions are under way about the Daytona sponsorship but the automaker has not reached an agreement.

The Daytona sponsorship dates to the early 1970s. GM provides fire and safety vehicles, pace cars and other vehicles for use during the race, as well as a July race at the track. GM did not disclose how much it spends on the Daytona deal or NASCAR sponsorships.

Scaling back motorsports sponsorships is seen as a risky move because the auto industry and racing are closely linked and give automakers a prime marketing opportunity to reach customers who buy domestic vehicles at a rate higher than the national average. Race fans, particularly stock car enthusiasts, are loyal to the sport's sponsors and advertisers. The heritage and loyalty runs so deep that NASCAR Chairman Brian France recently lobbied Congress to support a financial bailout of the auto industry. NASCAR sponsorships are a wise investment because each race attracts about 120,000 fans, said Terry Dolan, manager of Chevy Racing. GM often creates a showroom environment on the speedway grounds, giving spectators an intimate look at its model lineup.

The 2008 Daytona 500 attracted 33.5 million television viewers and is the top-rated motorsports telecast in North America. This year, GM had sponsorships at 12 tracks that feature NASCAR events, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, though three of those sponsorships have not been renewed. Chevrolet also is the official vehicle sponsor of the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 held in September at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. That sponsorship expires next year.

[Joe Starr]

Will this be something that congress says has to go in order for the big three to get "Bail Out" help from the US Goverment?

Your thoughts?

[FlyHigh Racing]

They need to quit spending money, until they get their business in order, jmo

[Legend03]

The biggest problem the Big 3 and their employees have is the Unions. Get rid of the Union and the problem becomes much easier to solve.

[IRL13fan]

Originally Posted by Legend03

The biggest problem the Big 3 and their employees have is the Unions. Get rid of the Union and the problem becomes much easier to solve.

Exactly my thought.

[SLIM]

Boy I sure wish everyone would stop using the term bail out. It's a bridge loan. The bail out for the banks was not designed to be paid back. What the Big 3, or just Chrysler and GM are asking for is a loan that they intend to pay back.
Unlike the banks, the Big 2 won't just take the money and run, they will restructure and strengthen their core. The banks just said thanks, shoved the money in their pocket and stuck up their middle finger to the american workers.
it's insane...it took 3 winks of sleep to bail out the banks but has taken almost 2 months to study the domestic auto industry for a bridge loan. I'm glad I didn't vote for any of the imbociles.

[FlyHigh Racing]

If you were a bank, which you are since it is our government and they get their funds from us, and you look at lending your money out to a company that shows no sign of making money in the near to if ever future. Why in the hell would you loan them our money, they are terrible business people with an over paid union making unreasonable demands on how they conduct business. My 2004 Chevy truck has a chasis that came from Canada and was assembled in Mexico, don't give me the "buy American" cliche. cya and Merry CHRISTmas

[terry]

Originally Posted by FlyHigh Racing

they are terrible business people with an over paid union making unreasonable demands on how they conduct business.

And the thing that brings that home is that the unions are unwilling to make concessions even now when they are in danger of losing thier jobs. The unions need a reality check and I think they are about to get one. I guess they'll show us!

[Mini71]

Unfortunatley I'm recovering from surgery and have nothing better to do besides watch C-span. I have watched 15+ hrs of the big 3 beg for money. When asked how they are going to change their business practice in order to become profitable. All they say is "blah,blah,blah, uh, um we think we have a good plan. Give us the money and then we'll tell you about it." Their is'nt a bank in the world that would lend 15 billion dollars without an exact business plan presented to them.

It really says something when the comapny that owns Chrysler wont even invest in the company that they own.

[adavis11]

Interesting article I found on another site. ~~ adavis11


Tom Krisher and Kimberly S. Johnson, AP Auto Writers
Friday December 12, 2008, 6:52 pm EST

DETROIT (AP) -- Festering animosity between the United Auto Workers and Southern senators who torpedoed the auto industry bailout bill erupted into full-fledged name calling Friday as union officials accused the lawmakers of trying to break the union on behalf of foreign automakers.

The vitriol had been near the surface for weeks as senators from states that house the transplant automakers' factories criticized the Detroit Three for management miscues and bloated UAW labor costs that lawmakers said make them uncompetitive.

But the UAW stopped biting its tongue after Republicans sank a House-passed bill Thursday night that would have loaned $14 billion to cash-poor General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to keep them out of bankruptcy protection. The Bush administration later stepped in and said it was ready to make money available to the automakers, likely from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout program.

Still, autoworkers remain angry with the senators who tried to negotiate wage and benefit concessions from the union, then scuttled the House-passed bill that would have granted the loans and set up a "car czar" to oversee the nearly insolvent companies and get concessions from the union and creditors. Their top targets were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who led negotiations on a compromise; and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who has been a vocal critic of the loans.

Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama all house auto assembly plants from foreign automakers, and union officials contend the senators want to drive UAW wages down so there would be no reason for workers at the foreign plants to join the union.

"They thought perhaps they could have a twofer here maybe: Pierce the heart of organized labor while representing the foreign brands," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a Friday morning news conference in Detroit.

Republicans in several Western states -- where unions are often shunned -- joined the Southerners in opposition.

But lawmakers and their spokesmen said the criticism is off base. Jonathan Graffeo, Shelby's spokesman on the Senate Banking Committee, said the senator has consistently opposed taxpayer-funded bailouts.

"He opposed the Chrysler bailout in 1979 when there were no foreign auto manufacturers in Alabama, and he opposed the recent $700 billion bailout of the banking industry," Graffeo said.

"Bailouts generally don't work, and this is a huge proposed bailout, and I fear it's just the down payment on more to come next year," Shelby said on the Senate floor Thursday night. "These companies are either already failed or failing, and that's a shame. These aren't the General Motors, Ford and Chrysler I knew."

Corker said the alternative he tried to develop would have provided federal money in exchange for restructuring the companies' debt and making the UAW more competitive in wages with workers at U.S. plants of Japanese competitors.

"Our members wanted to know that the UAW was willing to be competitive," Corker said.

"I basically pleaded with them to give me some language by some date certain that they were competitive with these other companies," Corker said. "That's where it broke down."

Hourly wages for UAW workers at GM factories already are about equal to those paid by Toyota Motor Corp. at its older U.S. factories, according to the companies. GM says the average UAW laborer makes $29.78 per hour, while Toyota -- generally viewed as the main competitor of the Detroit Three -- says it pays about $30 per hour. But the unionized factories have far higher benefit costs.

The union, GM and Chrysler have contended that the companies have restructured and the UAW has granted concessions that would make them competitive in 2010, but the economy went south this year and forced them into trouble. A third Detroit automaker, Ford Motor Co., asked for loans in case of emergency but says it has enough cash to make it through 2009.

Union officials also accused the senators of retaliating for the UAW's overwhelming support of Democratic candidates in federal races. The union gave $1.9 million to Democrats but only $11,500 to Republicans in the 2008 election cycle.

Many Democrats support the Employee Free Choice Act, which would take away employers' rights to demand a secret ballot on whether workers will join a union. Instead, workers could form unions by getting a majority of employees to sign a card in support of it.

"There's a lot at stake. If Republicans think now they can tarnish labor, it's going to be difficult to pass the Employee Free Choice Act," said Gary Chaison, professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "The unions are going to say that a strong labor movement is good for America. One of the things Republicans are trying to show now is that a strong labor movement isn't good for America."

Other union officials joined Gettelfinger to form a chorus of anger and frustration with the senators.

"What this is is the Southern conservative senators trying to destroy the United Auto Workers, trying to destroy unions," said Mike O'Rourke, president of a UAW local at a GM factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., Corker's home state. "It's a sad day in America when the senators turn their back on Main Street."

In an effort to help the auto companies get federal aid, the UAW last week offered to delay company payments into a union-run trust fund that will take over retiree health care costs starting in 2010. It also agreed to end the controversial "jobs bank" program in which laid-off workers get most of their pay and benefits after unemployment pay runs out.

Most Southern U.S. auto plants run by Toyota, Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co., BMW AG, Daimler AG and other manufacturers are nonunion. The UAW has tried numerous times without success to organize workers at the foreign-owned factories.

Spokesmen for Toyota and Nissan declined comment, but Honda spokesman Ed Miller said in a statement the company did not lobby against the bill.

"Honda has been encouraging initiatives that would maintain the short- and long-term viability of the U.S. auto industry, including the hundreds of the shared supplier companies in the United States," he said.

As the Detroit Three have declined and ceded market share to the foreign nameplates, the UAW's membership has plummeted 69 percent, from a peak 1.5 million in 1979 to 465,000 at the end of 2007.

Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas in Washington and AP Business Writer Ellen Simon in New York contributed to this report.

[CheeseHead]

How easy it is for so many to spew the 'Don't Give 'em a Dime' bit. The big three have agreeably mis-managed some serious funds over the years, and it needs to be corrected. As much as I am not a fan of government bail-outs / loans/ or whatever you want to call them, I am afraid that for the survival of so many, this one is necessary.
When you travel to places like my hometown, where the plant will be shut down within two weeks time.... you may un-selfishly see the reality of what bankruptsies for the the American auto makers would truely bring.
In one small town alone.... thousands unemployed... hundreds of homes in forclosure... many, like my Father, facing the fear that without government assistance, 30 years of dedicated and hard work will bring no pension or retirement funding of any kind. And that's just one small story in one small town.
This whole thing isn't simply about big business, big money, CEO's, and Unions. It's about people. It's about a LOT of good people. When the high and mighty soap-box that some of you sit atop gets kicked out from under you and this spoiled rotten country hits REAL hard economic times, I hope that all the "I told you so's" in the world will ease your conscience and help you sleep at night.

[Tazracr24]

I agree with alot of the posts related to this issue, but........while talking with some people here in the Denver / Aurora Metro area about this problem......is it true that alot of the workers and also the senior workers working for the automakers make in the neighborhood salary range of $45 - $75.00 hourly?????? whats wrong with this picture???? How many people here in this region make that kinda money??? How can you consider the workers at the automakers a skilled trade when virtually everything they do is supervise a robotic machine that is doing most all the work for them??? If there is someone out there that can clarify this ..please do so. I for one would like to see the automakers NOT in financial trouble, but I think I have to agree with some of the other posts about bad business tactics and toooooo much union presence and the union voting themselves right out of a job........JMO...thats my story and Im stickin to it

[CheeseHead]

Originally Posted by Tazracr24

is it true that alot of the workers and also the senior workers working for the automakers make in the neighborhood salary range of $45 - $75.00 hourly?????? whats wrong with this picture???? How many people here in this region make that kinda money??? How can you consider the workers at the automakers a skilled trade when virtually everything they do is supervise a robotic machine that is doing most all the work for them??? If there is someone out there that can clarify this ..please do so.

Not true for most.... perhaps some. And, in the year I spent building Suburbans and Top-Kicks in the Janesville, WI assembly and in the 30 years my Father has spent doing the same.... Neither of us, or anyone we worked the line with was getting paid $45 or $75 hourly wage (Not even close). Nor did we stand idly at our jobs supervising robots. I covered at least a dozen positions in my year at the plant, and NOT ONE of them involved sitting idly by while a robot did the work. Some were so physically demanding that I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up, and I'm a pretty big/tough chic. Now, realistically, there were some jobs harder than others, but that's anywhere you work.
The little guys, the workers, the ones that have the most to lose, will tell you that they agree that the Corporate and Union reps need to clean up their act. But, no good blue-collar hard working American man or woman deserves or expects to spend three decades of their life with the promise of some sort of security at the end of it all just to come up empty handed.

[Mini71]

I believe those hourly rates included all their benefits.

[racer88]

I just can't sit here and let people who don't have anything in the game talk about how the unions are the problem. I would just like to remind all of you that if not for the unions you all would still be working for minium wage, no benefits like health care or retirement. Oh and let me not forget 5 day work week. Couldn't get much racing in if you were working 6 or 7 days a week. If you think companies and corporations are going to give you a liveable wage if not forced to your in need of some serious help.
Let's not forget that you put 3 millon people out of work who's going to pay for their unemployment, who's going to make their mortgage payments, while this industry tries to make it. I think it will be the rest of us who might have a job.
Oh I know if they just say let's take a $8,000.00 a year cut in pay and no benefits this mess will be all taken care of. Well I suggest that each and everyone in this country take a pay cut of let's say 10% of your wage and no health care you pay for out of pocket and we put all that money in the hands of those incharge both the Repb and Demo and those fat cats on Wall Street; who by the way are still going to get those bonuses. If you think Geo W. or his buddy Chenny are going to miss a meal or loose the homes. You better think again. The one going to loose is the hard working American who is just trying to get a slice of the American dream.
I'm just so tired that everyone wants to blame the worker for the problems this country is facing. Well we all better wake up and see who the real culperates are. I also read everyones worried about Obama he's he no different than anyother of those professional politicians. It don't matter cause this country is in such deep S_ _t it's going to take awhile for us to dig out of this mess. It really depends on each and everyone of us to look at what are we willing to do to fix it.
JMO
Jim