Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli: This is Not a Drill
Chrysler’s CEO Bob Nardelli wants his troops to know that he made ChyrCo’s cutbacks to batten down the hatches for the current downturn. As opposed to, say, a pre-flip strip. “The difficult actions we have taken in the past, and those that we have just announced, are for one purpose and one purpose only: helping Chrysler survive this economic trough.” Nardelli said in a message to employees [via Reuters]. So… now what? More “down-sizing.” And anyone who suggests that Boot ’em Bob’s hankering for a bailout, buyout, merger or liquidation is a disloyal son of a bitch. “Nardelli said business conditions required a resizing of Chrysler again. ‘Rumors and speculation that these actions are being taken for any other purpose are simply not true.'” Meanwhile… “We don’t think a merger is in the interests of our members,” [Canadian Auto Workers union Ken] Lewenza said on the sidelines of an event at Chrysler’s minivan plant in Windsor. “I don’t see how you can take two sick patients and turn them into a healthy one.” Neither does anyone with a modicum of common sense. And yet, there it is.
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Don't these guys realize they have no credibility left in their communications with the press?
“I don’t see how you can take two sick patients and turn them into a healthy one.” I can, if one has an inoperable brain tumor, and the other needs a heart transplant. Unfortunately, Chrysler and GM are actually suffering from the same diseases to different degrees, so the analogy still falls apart.
Matthew Danda: If Rick Waggoneer and Bob Nardelli agree to work for $1.00 per year, no bullshit strings attached, no backdoor bonuses, no back pay next year, etc., then maybe I'll believe that both of them are serious about saving their respective companies. Then, they may have an iota of credibility.
So what do the unions expect to do with their spare time come late 2009 when their jobs evaporate? As bad as things are reported to be - I keep expecting the auto leadership and the union leadership to be running around like their hair is on fire trying anything to keep from going broke. Instead they seem to be calming riding the ship under the waves.