Knox Machinery Letter to GM: A MUST READ!
Here is the request letter from GM followed by the response…Enjoy!
Dear Employees & Suppliers,
Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation’s history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis………………….As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.
Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.
Troy Clarke
President General Motors North America
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Response from:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Franklin, Ohio
Gentlemen:
In response to your request to contact legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America.
Politicians and Management of the Big 3 are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our new “messiah”, Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep “living the dream”… Believe me folks, The dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded “laborers” without paying the price for these atrocities…this dream where you still think the masses will line up to buy our products for ever and ever.
Don’t even think about telling me I’m wrong. Don’t accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM’s throughout the Midwest during the past 30 years and what I’ve seen over those years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: “There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not.”
You’re right Mr. Clarke, it’s not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (We certainly must not expose those lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we??!)
Do you folks really not know about this stuff? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke’s sad plea: “over the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.” What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?! Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them? The K car vs. the Accord? The Pinto vs. the Civic?!? Do I need to go on? What a joke!
We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. It’s time to pay for your sins, Detroit.
I attended an economic summit last week wher e brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of “bailout money”. “Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems,” but despite what people like politicians and corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day… and the following very important thing would happen…where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up…that is how a free market system works…it does work…if we would only let it work…”
But for some nondescript reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn’t work - that we need the government to step in and “save us”…Save us my ass, Hell - we’re nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of our once fine nation’s citizens don’t even have a clue that this is what is really happening…But, they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah - THAT’S really important, isn’t it…
Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the “competition” has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades in this country?… How can that be??? Let’s see… Fuel efficient… Listening to customers… Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul…
Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and intelligent planning… Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like “the enemy”… Efficient front and back offices… Non union environment…
Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn’t be telling anyone anything they really don’t already know down deep in their hearts.
I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work through it. Radical concept, huh… Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.
I don’t want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad news people - it’s coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn’t have a magic wand big enough to “make it all go away.” I laughed as I heard Obama “reeling it back in” almost immediately after the final vote count was tallied…”we really might not do it in a year…or in four…” Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office?
Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks … That house in Florida really isn’t worth $750,000… People who jump across a border really don’t deserve free health care benefits… That job driving that forklift for the Big 3 really isn’t worth $85,000 a year… We really shouldn’t allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…
That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn’t be living in that $485,000 home… Let the market correct itself folks - it will. Yes it will be painful, but it’s gonna’ be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has…and doesn’t live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the patriotic work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…and probably turns back to God.
Sorry - don’t cut my head off, I’m just the messenger sharing with you the “bad news”. I hope you take it to heart.
Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/knox.asp
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Tags: franklin, general motors, gm, gregory knox, knox machinery, ohio
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March 10th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Wow, well said. Now if only we can get Congress to read this…
March 10th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
greg knox for congress
March 10th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
I believe in all words of the letter by Mr. Knox. It is about time overpaying and underperforming is tackled immediately. It applies even to me. I will definitely pass this article for others to read.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Yeah the devastion will be so widespread from Mr. Knox’s “cure” that people certainly will turn to God.
It certainly is horrible that the forklift operator gets $85,000 a year. Why not $10,000? And hey let’s knock everyone’s pay down more too. Except for one problem. We have ALREADY been doing that for the past 20 years and that is EXACTLY WHY no consumers have anymore money to buy your products Mr. Knox!
The problem isn’t the worker makes too much. The problem is most workers aren’t in unions and make too little and THAT is why no one can afford cars or houses without going into debt.
But lead on Mr. Knox. Start with your own example. Please cut your TOTAL compensation down to say $25,000 a year. We can begin wringing the inefficiencies out by cutting the costs of management.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:59 am
85.000$ for a fork lift job? is this a joke?
I am a IT-engineer and i live in europe and made 50.000e last year, best year ever. Includes hard earned bonuses. Made some incredible deals and technical solutions for clients which allowed the 1/3 organic growth to happen. Terrible work hourse of course.
Yet it seems i have the completely wrong job here. Sucker bet it seems.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:46 am
Yeah, because some toothless redneck with no marketable skills and a high school education should be making 85K a year plus full benefits to perform a job a trained ape could do. You’re right on the money there union-boy.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:53 am
I sincerely hope that the Big 3 ALL go bankrupt and those lazy, self-entitled bums who have been making too much money for too long get thrown out on the street. Hopefully they can find another job that pays them $35 an hour to install a seatbelt.
March 11th, 2009 at 2:49 am
This message makes one great point, and he really didn’t need to make any others. It’s really none of our concern whether the companies use union or non-union labor, whether they pay themselves fat bonuses or are frugal, whether they make a great quality product or build cheap crap, whether they hire hard-working employees and properly incentivize them or hire lazy workers and give them perverse incentives, or whether other companies are demonstrating success while these three companies are failing.
The bottom line is that the auto companies alone are responsible for living with the consequences of all of their own decisions. Not Congress. Not taxpayers. Not consumers. The universal natural rule of economics is that if you consume more resources than you put out, if you spend more money than you collect, then the natural consequence is to go out of business. Tens of thousands of small businesses learn that law the hard way every year and we don’t bail them out. Shame on us for even considering bailing out these companies, just because they’re big enough to hire lobbyists and to fly on their jets to Washington to beg for our hard-earned money from Congress.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Why cut the pay of the working man?
The wages of the average worker have stayed nearly the same since the ´70s while executive pay has increased almost 300 fold.
I don´t care if you run a company with 100.000 workers, that job can´t be worth MILLIONS OF DOLLARS every month.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:26 am
A voice in the wilderness.
He will not be heard except among those who care.
The ‘messiah’ has come as he said.
He’ll ‘make it all better’.
Bwahahahahahahah.
March 11th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Surely the point is we can do capitalism in 2 ways
* small corporations such as your own where it’s clear who’s responsible.
* behemoths where there is so little transparency that you get bad decisions and unions.
So we should split up our big corporations into little ones. Then, if I don’t like my employer, there’s plenty of choice. Then, if a little company dies, oh well.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
The worst part is he is spot on. I worked for a company that would help companies with their unions. We would sit with the unions and the managers. There were times where we looked at a position and what they made. And let me tell you there are a LOT of 80-90k forklift drivers, and even worse the 85k factory line workers. Call me crazy but as a IT person with a masters in computer database systems, I do not think a high school drop out who is picking parts out of a warehouse, roofing homes or the state departments guy who turns the sign from slow to stop should be in a income bracket above all my co-workers.
During our last audit we found a company that was paying its factory line workers ( placing door hardware ) that were making 42 grand a year. They worked for the state producing doors for jails and prisons. The same people that were not on the federal line were making 8.50 a hour, doing the exact same thing. Guess who was in a union?
March 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Peet: No one is saying that the average worker’s wages should be cut - this is talking about how ludicrous it is to pay obscene amounts of money to someone whose work really doesn’t entitle him or her to such wages.
March 11th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
No forklift drivers make $85,000 and you would be surprised how extremely few $50,000 a year couples have $485,000 homes. The guy does make some points, but he overgeneralizes tremendously, makes up BS stats to support his claim and he thinks people who jump borders get free health care. He either lives in canada or his somewhat idiotic. My guess is this isn’t a real letter from a business, but instead a propoganda piece that will soon be making its rounds through email circles, spreading flase statements and overgeneralizations. And why does he even bring up immagrants?
March 18th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
I think that our current distress is not the result of the system-democratic-failing the people but is the result of the people failing the system by taking personal liberties with the freedoms. I suggest that socialization will restore the balance required to remove the inequalities.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I totally and completely agree with Gregory Knox….. Years ago, my father-in-law said…”the Unions are going to destroy this country”!. And they have!!! $85K for a fort-lift operator is insane….. Any dumb-bunny can operate a fork-lift…… but greed is greed!! And WHAT ….. I came to work….. now you want me to work too! Why do Union workers believe that they are owed?? I hire you….. you do the job….. I pay you….. That’s how it works. I too believe that NO payouts should happen. Yes, Companies will close, people will loose their jobs…… but within a short amount of time, new companies will open, jobs WILL be created, hopefully with NO unions and the scale will start out a little more balanced. This is the best thing that could happen to the Big3…. they have been worrying about how many cup holders to put in cars for far toooo long….. when they should be designing cars that are economical and efficient….. All top brass of the Big3 should be fired! ALL union workers should be let go….. New companies will open and people WILL have jobs ….. As of 2000, I myself will NEVER buy from the Big3 ever again …… Not when they mass produce that car, so there are a kazzillion of that model on the road and they want outrageous amounts of money for that car….. then 3 years later it is worth absolutely nothing on the used market….. for no one wants them…..
April 9th, 2009 at 7:37 am
Oh my gosh…………I am hearing a echo !!!!!! My father said the exact same things as Mr. Knox, except it was 50 years ago. My father worked in one of the GM shops in Flint back in the late 30’s and most of the 40’s. They made him a forman in the early 40’s. After the union came in it was very apparent to him what the outcome, waaaaayyyyy down the road, would be. He was right, and we are seeing the results of years and years of greed and laziness right now. One thing that I have always said (I’m 65), is that the auto workers were going to “wage raise” themselves right out of a job. Another thing they have failed to realize is that Joe Schmoe that DOESN’T work for the Big 3, didn’t and doesn’t earn the big $$$$ to afford the vehicles that the Big 3 had to raise the price on every year, to PAY THE GROSSLY INFLATED WAGES. When a car or truck costs half as much as a person’s home…..something is slightly out of balance. Unfortunately, this trend trickled, to some extent, to other parts of our working class. I also use the term “working” VERY loosely.
My father said that the union stripped the working man of his work ethics. No one knew HOW to work anymore. This is a generalization. Obviously, there were SOME men that WOULD go in there and work and put in a full days work, and not “milk the system”
Before the union came in, it was nothing for my dad, as forman, to jump on one of the lines to help get the production quota. But after the union came in there, he was called on the carpet for it and written up. Plus, if there was a break down, and he knew how to fix it, he didn’t dare fix it because they had to WAIT for the designated person to come (at his leisure) to fix it, or be written up again and have a “grievence” filed against him. I could go on and on, but it would not do any good. But I sure applaud Mr. Knox for having the guts to speak his mind on this matter. The bail out? I agree with him. Let them start from scratch, although, as he said it would cause alot pain for everyone. The big wigs at the top of ALL these companies, (not just the Big 3), should step back and really ask if they are worth all of the big 6 and 7 figure salaries and bonuses, when all of this is falling away. But of course, the same thing is happening in government and all around us. Someone can’t see the tree for the forest. And I am tired, as a consumer and as a taxpayer, of paying for all the mistakes and poor management and toys for these fat cats, that I myself and my hard working husband, can NOT AFFORD. Like I said, I am 65 years old and still go out in the woods and help my husband get all the wood up that we will need for the winter,( 25 cords) because propane has gone so far out of sight. I drive a 2003 vehicle, and hope to get another 50 k miles out of it. Because we sure can not afford to replace it. I know blah blah blah. I will close on that note.
April 11th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Kiljoy: I think it must be YOU that lives in another country….I am a nurse working in a large, major metropolitan hospital IN THE SOUTH and we have many illegal immigrants coming to our ER and they do, indeed, receive FREE health care….let me name a few for you… open heart surgery, diabetes education, care and medication, post-trauma care, etc., etc., etc., the list goes on and on, and I have taken care of little old ladies in one room who have paid their insurance premium all their lives, they are crying because their insurance will not pay for that needed test so they don’t get that test, yet in the next room, there is an illegal who is getting everything, and I mean everything for free. I have spoken with Mexicans at the hospital and they have told me that the word is out down there in Mexico - come to the United States to get your FREE health care, and they do, by the droves. I don’t know what state you live in, but down here, they are a burden to an already broken health care system.
And, as far as couples purchasing homes they cannot afford - WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CURRENT HOUSING CRISIS CONSISTS OF? Go do your homework! True, many have lost their jobs and I am not referring to those people, but there are many people that got in over their heads and are paying the price now because they cannot afford that house they had no business purchasing in the first place. A new bumper sticker for cars - HONK IF I’M PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE!
And finally, I come from a steel town up north and yes, I had many friends who drove forklifts for factories up north making much more than $50,000 a year, and I had a friend who did nothing but push a broom in a factory for a living and he made $45,000 a year - and this was back in the 1970’s!!!!
Thank you Mr Gregory Knox - your letter to GM gives me hope that maybe we can all do something about this greed, atmosphere of entitlement, and corruption that exists everywhere - in Corporate America, in the Unions, in our government, and in our society.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I attended the Tea Party on Fountain Square adn Greg Knox gave one of the most impassioned and eloquent speeches I have ever heard. He was right on and he gets it. We need to stop the insanity in Washington asap or we may never get our country back. I believe that if we don’t send a message and take back the Congressional house races in 2010 this country will be so badly changed for the worse it will take 30 years to get it back.
Also, remember that this congress will pass a form of amnesty for illegals during this term and that will give them another 40 million more votes from people that this government continues to SUPPORT. Who do you think they will vote for.
Get smart America. This is not a radical right wing thinking, it is a concerned Americal thinking.
April 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Mr. Knox is right about everything he speaks of. And you idiots who disagree with him must have been reared in a mindless family environment, bereft of values and logic.
June 12th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I am Driving a 1996 saturn and I have 3,86.000.00 miles
Most of the Milles are Business Milles,means Iwas getting paid from 38-58C permile.
I saved my $ I always wanted to have a sports car.
Finaly I wanted to have The New Camaro I was dreaming todrive one so I started shoping around
with my 38handr Miles, Saturn .
I went to 4 dealrs but no one will let me test drive or get in a camaro.I had to buy the car 1st .I really was very disappointed . Afriend of mine sugested test drive a Nissan 370Z what a wonderful people they din`t care what car i was drive they wher proffesional they let me seat on the car test drive and soforth. I would get thatNissan370Z but No I wanted a new Camaro.Last friday I was crossing a Porshe dealership so I stoped looking around . a nice gentelman aproched me telling me I got what you looking forYoungman Jocking ihate to see only old man in a young mans car lol.Then he said a wealthy man just trade his 1997 Porshe camon s for a porshe 911. stil has 4years waranty only 9,500 milles alot extra. inthe bottom Line I am driving a beautiful porshe(paid cash) thanks to my saturn and the none friendly GM dealers, Finaly when are you going to learn your leson and your bully tacticks
June 12th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
sorry made a mistake MyPorshe is 2007 Camon s and not 1997I am Driving a 1996 saturn and I have 3,86.000.00 miles
Most of the Milles are Business Milles,means Iwas getting paid from 38-58C permile.
I saved my $ I always wanted to have a sports car.
Finaly I wanted to have The New Camaro I was dreaming todrive one so I started shoping around
with my 38handr Miles, Saturn .
I went to 4 dealrs but no one will let me test drive or get in a camaro.I had to buy the car 1st .I really was very disappointed . Afriend of mine sugested test drive a Nissan 370Z what a wonderful people they din`t care what car i was drive they wher proffesional they let me seat on the car test drive and soforth. I would get thatNissan370Z but No I wanted a new Camaro.Last friday I was crossing a Porshe dealership so I stoped looking around . a nice gentelman aproched me telling me I got what you looking forYoungman Jocking ihate to see only old man in a young mans car lol.Then he said a wealthy man just trade his 2007 Porshe camon s for a porshe 911. stil has 4years waranty only 9,500 milles alot extra. inthe bottom Line I am driving a beautiful porshe(paid cash) thanks to my saturn and the none friendly GM dealers, Finaly when are you going to learn your leson and your bully tacticks