Report: Merit pay returns to General Motors
Filed under: GM, Earnings/Financials
When General Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, cuts were made to salaried workers’ pay and benefits. The move was important to help preserve as much cash as possible while also showing the federal government and the United Auto Workers that everybody in the company was making a sacrifice. Some might even say that salaried employees sacrificed more than others, as thousands were given pink slips and all lost health care benefits after age 65.
After bankruptcy, The General restored the seven percent pay cuts, and now the company is reportedly restoring merit pay increases for 2010. The Detroit News reports that GM told employees before they left for Christmas break that merit pay was being restored; likely a nice bit of news at the end of a very depressing year.
Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting Inc. in Short Hills, NJ tells the DetNews that the move was necessary to help GM retain its best workers, adding “Given the number of departures they’ve had, particularly senior people taking retirements or buyouts, you run the risk of a lot of brain drain and losing institutional knowledge.”
[Source: The Detroit News]
Report: Merit pay returns to General Motors originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-friend-via, a-nice-bit, christmas, general-motors, merit pay, meritincreases, meritpay, news, sacrificed-more, salary, thousands-were, told-employees, united-auto, very-depressing
Hyundai ix35 (i.e. the new Tucson) spotted in Sydney
Aug 9, 2009 Object
Filed under: Spy Photos, Crossover, Hyundai
The Hyundai ix35, otherwise expected to be the next U.S.-spec Tucson, was caught on a commercial shoot in Sydney, Australia. Compared to its concept progenitor, the ix-onic, the production crossover is pleasingly true to its inspiration.
The ix-onic’s asymmetric grill mesh has been swapped for three conventional horizontal lamellas. Elsewhere, the edge-tastic treatment of the concept has been toned down but not dispensed with altogether. The boomerang fog lights take a more open shape but still form an angled design element with the headlamps. And it’s hard to tell in the original image posted by Ausmotive.com, but the possibly softer rear end seems to have a bit of a Murano-style look about it now.
Motive force (in other markets) will come from a 1.6-liter GDi turbo four-cylinder, moving the wheels through a 6-speed double-clutch transmission — a nice bit of technology for a CUV from a the same people who brought us the unlamented Hyundai Excel. If it goes as well as it looks, Hyundai could have a winner with its new compact ‘ute. Hat tip to Liam
[Source: Ausmotive.com]
Hyundai ix35 (i.e. the new Tucson) spotted in Sydney originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tags: a-nice-bit, a-winner-with, driver, entry, hyundai, hyundai ix onic, hyundai ix-onic concept, hyundai-excel-, hyundaiix35, hyundaiixonic, possibly-softer, sydney, traffic-safety, united
