Holden Gone!

[richo966]

mate I have been union worker in the past bad conditions no safety gear for chemicals working in confined spaces with out protective gear treats of violence illegal workers on holiday visas when we told the union rep I got fired and nothing changed then the union threatened me with court denying I had met with them but I am not stupid I had friend tape meeting so they had to leave me alone a lot of corruption in unions. Good idea shame about the people running them craig Thomson need I say more yes they have made things better but a lot of the time they don't

 

[Heatho]

What we really need is a Real Aussie Icon - An Aussie made and owned independent company making cars that aussies want!

Is TONKA Australian??..I've owned a couple of their trucks over the years.

Tonka, US owned (Hasbro), but made in China - sounds all too familiar! Somehow I don't think we will ever see cars manufatured here ever again, not unless we import our own Aussie slave workers to work under special conditions where they will receive below minimum wages.

Toyota will be next cab off the rank, Thailand is a much cheaper for them to produce cars at. Doesn't matter how ingenious we become at developing new technologies and products in Australia, eventually all resultant manufacturing will end up in places like China to be viable and maximise profits. Just look at things like solar panels, used to be expensive as hell, now they are very cheap to buy with a bulk of them now coming from China. Has anyone notice recently how many clothing items in places like BigW are now sourced from Bangladesh rather than China?

I also see that we have recently drawn up a free trade agreement with South Korea, basically dropping all excises on imports, and opening up markets for our resources industries. Lets face it, we are pretty much nation of exporters of raw materials for the world (mineral, farming, aquaculture etc.). So expect to see more Korean made gear landing in Australia.

I see all government funding withdrawn from Holdens is now being re-directed to Toyota to try and keep them in Australia. Don't think it will be enough though, will end up like Mitsubishi selling imports only. :|

Spot on! Australia exports some of the best quality raw materials and we buy it back as junk which usually only just lasts the warranty period. Free trade has killed manufacturing in Australia.

Seems instead of stealing slaves and taking them to other countries to work these days, big business owners are packing up and taking their companies and equipment to the slave labour.

We are selling our farms, mines, water access rights, power stations, everything but the kitchen sink to foreign investors, not sure where things are heading but I don't like it one bit.

Everything our Grandparents went to war for to preserve Australia for future generations of Australians is being eroded.

I feel sorry for all the employees of these companies, though the the companies never give a toss.

 

[Sarn]

The problem is that manufacturing in australia simply isnt profitable because our wages are too high and it costs far too much to produce goods here when compared to other countries. Realistically speaking, the only way for us to become competitive in manufacturing is for every australian to take a massive pay cut. The irony is that we pay an absurd amount for goods and services that are sold for a fraction of the cost overseas. Why? Because we are willing and able to pay these inflated prices. If all our wages were cut then the prices of these goods would also decrease (over time) to align with what other countries are paying because we will no longer be willing nor able to pay the stupid prices that we currently do. This would balance out the wage decreases, the added bonus would be that we would also become competitive in manufacturing once more. But of course this will never happen because we are too attached to our large pay packets and too short sighted to see the longer term benefits.

As for holden, no other industry (except perhaps farming - but ensuring our food supply is very important) gets propped up by the government more than the car industry has. The fact of the matter is that it is not profitable to manufacture cars here, and the existence of car manufacturing in this country has been artificially propped up by tax payers. For what benefit? So any profits made can be shipped back overseas to their american based parent companies? Not to mention the fact that it is completely unfair to other industries who dont receive any form of assistance. If a company isn't viable then taxpayers sshouldnt have to fund their continued existence.

In terms of build quality. I own a holden and quite frankly the quality is no better than a chinese import - but you pay more for it. While you expect to have to fix mechanical problems over time, what dismays me is the fact the interior of the car is falling apart - aptly illustrating how poor quality my car really is. Examples include: the backs of the two front car seats falling off (upon examination the reason was clear - 4 tiny little screws, attached to 4 flimsy and thin peices of plastic), the door locks falling off (3 out of 4 have popped out and no longer sit correctly in their socket making it impossible to open the car from the interior using the locks). Trim falling off around and along the front passenger window. The interior electricals shorting out and causing the dash lights etc not to work - constant costs in replacing bulbs to fix the issue. I hate the car, it really is poorly built and cant wait til i can replace it with something better.

I read in the paper that Toyota is also likely to close, the reason being, workers not willing to change their enterprise agreement to help reduce the cost of producing cars here. So instead of being willing to negotiate with their employer they instead choose to be out of a job in a few years time. The sad thing is that it was 4 employees who challenged a vote on the agreement in the high court, the high court upheld their challenge not to allow the workers to vote on whether or not they were willing to negotiate a new EA. So congrats to those 4 workers in denying their collegues a democratic say in their future. They should be ashamed of themselves.

/end rant

 

[Roscoe]

I think the big thing over looked with our export industries is the floating of our dollar. How can our export industries compete with a dollar fluctuating so much? How would Australian workers feel if their wages floated. One week Joe Bloggs gets $600 in his pay packet and next week he goes and gets his pay and only receives $400. Well this is what our export industries face every day, what a bloody joke. This whole dollar floating is a international scam.

And you can thank our old mate Paul Keating for this? You remember the recession we had to have?

 

[loamer]

well - we can now all go an buy a Great wall and hit the great out-doors!! (at least as far as the nearest RACV depot). Know why they have heated rear windows? So you can keep your hands warm while pushing them.

 

[G0lddigg@]

cant go past a Nissan

 

[Paulmarr]

Just saw that the next commodore will be made in china, and there will not be a v8 in the range anymore, just a V6. Can see holden lovers turning in their graves over that one!

The Chinadore!

 

[BrisJoe]

cant go past a Nissan

Yep owned 5 of them

 

[Roscoe]

So you can keep your hands warm while pushing them.

ha.ha

 

[sjy120]

No one has mentioned the politicians that gave themselves a 500% pay increase under the labour govt and wouldn't give nurses, teachers or police a 5% increase????
Don't you think that may be a contributor also????

You can tell when a politician is lying,,,, his lips are moving...

 

[slowflow]

Nobody can take a pay cut in isolation, they just end up cannon fodder.
We could be satisfied with a small wage in a low cost country, that's not Aus.

sjy120, cynically correct.

 

[loamer]

18% of the cost of the car was wages. A 50% pay cut would have made no difference - ask the SA Holden crew who took a pay cut. If it was all about low wages, everything in the world would be made in Bangladesh. There is a city in the USA called Frisk (or Fisk) where GM Buiks were/are made. Used to have a workforce of 80,000, now 5,000 so GM just don't care about us or their own workers. Look at Detroit - its stuffed as well.