Not one to take a "bitch-slap" lightly, the Detroit News is reporting that GM's Bob Lutz, the loose-lipped Vice Chairman and product chief
had a response to Kirk Kerkorian aide Jerry York's comments from
Tuesday's luncheon at the RenCen.
York levied severe criticism on GM for making asks of the lower-echelon employees (re:UAW), without first biting the bullet at the senior executive and board levels. An alltogether reasonable critique if you ask me. And, to give GM credit, they did freeze salaries. However freezing salaries is not the same thing as cutting, which is what GM is asking of the line workers. But Lutz feels he's given enough due to the decrease in value of his stock options. That must be why this was Lutz's response: "I have to say I gave at the office...Here's where people get this wrong: They say, 'Why are executives paid so much? You have to ask: Why are professional athletes paid so much?'...The capability of successfully trying to turn around an unsuccessful automobile company is a very rare and highly sought after skill set. And you do the shareholder no good whatsoever by reducing compensation to the point where everybody leaves."
Way to go Bob. Great 'Man of the People' you are...you ask every level lower than you to cut, and criticize them for criticizing the ask. But then, when you start to feel pressure to lower your own level of compensation, you rebuff the ask with an "F- this noise" type of response. This is more and more looking like
there is a conspiracy to send this company into a bankruptcy...a conspiracy I have said before holds little to no merit...but...when Lutz says things like this, it shows exactly why this company will not survive without a drastic change in its leadership.
Not one to take a "bitch-slap" lightly, the Detroit News is reporting that GM's Bob Lutz, the loose-lipped Vice Chairman and product chief had a response to Kirk Kerkorian aide Jerry York's comments from Tuesday's luncheon at the RenCen. 
16 Comments:
It's not like this is the first time Lutz has said something totally silly. Nor will it be the last time, I feel.
Hey, Farago makes some legitimate comments. And the question he asks is legitimate...why did they remove the Tahoe?
can eveyrone please stop posting links to that same friggin' conspiracy post. sheesh.
The point being I've seen it like a bazillion times and it is light on facts.
The simplest answer to that question? On Day 3 of media days it is very normal for automakers to move things around for TV media. Uh Like 60 minutes. It was back in it's spot the next day. I even posted elsewhere I saw steve kroft on the floor. Heck on the Second Day I saw the Challenger and Imperial in Ford's Truck area for a specific shot/media request!!!!
Doesn't that seem more possible than the conspiracy? You think they're faking something that's supposed to go on sale in 2007? that's pretty far flung.
If 60 minuts features Lutz sitting in front of the tahoe as a backdrop in a closed off room, I want every site pumping up this conspiracy to run that full story too. they won't of course.
I'm checking into this with some sources now. I'll see what I come up with.
Dave, I'll be the first to say that if the Tahoe is in the 60 minutes episode as Lutz's backdrop, the VERY FIRST post on Monday morning will be a repudiation of my comments on a supposed "conspiracy theory". If I'm wrong, I will most definetly own up to it. Secondarily, I will most definetly drop a line to Farago et al and push them to do the same.
I'm still waiting on word back although it was late int he afternoon yesterday. 60 minutes does not have a GM segment featured this weekend according to the now updated web page. but they don't always move that fast either.
up close pics here
http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4820&view=findpost&p=73071
And...Dave, as agreed:
GM: No Conspiracy!
you rock. from what I hear it's actually quite a system. the fact that it will tow the same as a regular tahoe is impressive. And supposedly something toyota's system can not do.
I'm sure that won't be reported anywhere.
Which is worse? A conspiracy or simple incompetency?
In the industrialized world, only in America are executive's salaries THIS much higher than the rank-and-file.
I'll keep buying American cars, if for no other reason than to support our dwindling flock of engineers and factory workers. But if I had a button that would make idiots like Lutz suffer a stroke, I would jam on it like I know the answer.
there's a post on a saab site about how much the Lutz and other execs get paid relating them to overpaid NBA players. But the post totally misses the point that Bob Lutz makes half as much a year than a busted ass big man in the NBA (they used Eric Dampier $10 mil as an example).
Now don't you think running one of the world's largest companies should be worth more than standing under a basket for 48 minutes a night?
oh and compare that Center's salary to the guy selling coke. I bet it's a bigger disparity than an assembly worker and ole Lutz.
Well, no doubt that execs should be adequately compensated for the work that they do...and the leadership they provide. But compare Lutz's comments to those made by Bill Ford:
Bill Ford tells shareholders he'll accept no pay [DetNews - 05/12/05]
It's all about leadership. Allthough as the article explains, the shareholders don't really care if a CEO makes a move like this, the workers do.
When a leader is willing to suffer along with the front-line troops, it makes cuts all the more palatable. I'm also the first to believe that if Bill Ford gets his company through this, he deserves not only back pay plus interest...but mad bonuses from the shareholders for leading them through the painful period they are currently in.
As for the comment made on a crack dealer, I dunno if you've had a chance to read economist Steven D. Levitt's book Freakonomics, but apparently crack dealers don't make very much money. Which is why most crack dealers live with their mothers.
Dave, you are absolutely correct that Lutz should be adequately paid. I also don't believe that he should make the same kind of decision Bill Ford made, and accept no compensation. However, he really should have handled his comments in a better way...and not made himself sound callous towards line workers who may lose the majority of their post-retirement health benefits. He is no longer a designer...he is a leader of the Firm. He needs to make sure he acts like one.
To deal with 'the race to the bottom', organized labor beeds a better plan. With the American way of life being outsourced, what can organized labor do to help?
Raymond B
www.voteswagon.com
Well Lutz also isn't the head guy is he? I mean there is one more guy at the top right? Ford is doing a good job IMO. He certainly puts a good face on how things are going.
Organzied labor needs to get over themselves though.
Seriously, who gets the same set-up they do? In no job I've had was there security. You do a bad job you get fired.
You're expected to work more to get the job done (and not get paid overtime).
You sit at your desk and eat lunch most of the time.
You get 401K and health benefits.
I think organized labor should see how everyone else works these days. When you read story after story about a workaholic nation we're becoming, where do they fall in?
That's why my generation doesn't support organzied labor for the most part. That and the fact that times have changed since The Jungle. And the folks working for Nissan in Tenn and all the rest of non union shops sure aren't complaining either. It makes you wonder how much longer the unions will last.
Post-work health benefits? Are you kidding me? Who gets that these days? That's the one time the govt does take any interest in your healthcare.
And I'm not talking blue collar jobs, how many white collar jobs have these benefits?
Now if you talk the salary being cut in half that's another story. that doesn't make sense. But maybe coming in line with those non-union shops, I think they still get paid very well. in the $20/hour range, not the $12.50 or whatever Delphi was asking for. That argument holds water for me. Not this "give me benefits until you go belly up" argument.
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