Marketing and all things related

The GM strike entered day two today, and it looks like the two sides are no closer to coming to an agreement.  This is the first strike the United Auto Workers (UAW) have held against General Motors (NYSE: GM) since 1970. 

Of course, times have changed since then when the UAW topped out at 1.5 million members versus the 600,000 active members today.  Also, GM has fallen since their 1960s reign when they controlled half of the United States vehicle market.  Today, GM accounts for less than 25% of U.S. auto sales.

With foreign automakers stealing market share from U.S. car manufacturers, GM certainly doesn't need more problems and negative publicity from a strike, but union workers have valid complaints including more and more off-shoring of their jobs.  That's a common practice for many large companies looking to save a few bucks with cheaper foreign labor, but in the meantime, U.S. workers lose jobs and money.  That in turn hurts the U.S. economy.

The effects of the strike by 73,000 GM union workers are being felt already.  Two plants in Canada have closed putting over 6,000 people out of work because they didn't have the parts they needed from U.S. plants.  GM is speculating that 100,000 more people could be out of work for the same reason by the end of the week.  GM estimates that each week the strike continues, the company will lose $350 million.  To make matters worse, GM's stock dropped by 22 cents today.

GM seems to be in the middle of a vicious circle of bad decision-making.  What will it take for GM and other U.S. automakers to turn things around?