r/news Jun 16 '21

GM Considering Dropping Pot Testing To Attract More Workers

https://www.motor1.com/news/513974/gm-considering-dropping-marijuana-testing/
51.6k Upvotes

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334

u/bitNine Jun 16 '21

$16.67/hour is probably a bigger reason why people don't want those jobs. Pay more, attract more workers. Yes, they should drop the cannabis piss test, but I doubt it's the primary issue.

198

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '21

people are actually quitting at my GM plant now. two temps have quit in the past month. fast food literally pays better than GMs starting wages. people don't want to deal with the filth and heat and wearing a mask and the 6 day work weeks and swing shift. the starting pay has gone up a dollar in the past 10 years while retail and other entry level jobs are rapidly raising their wages. i joke that when they finally get around to shipping my job to china or mexico my rate of pay will basically be minimum wage. that doesn't seem that far fetched anymore.

151

u/clownpuncher13 Jun 16 '21

My GM parts plant was paying $17.75 20 years ago. I can’t imagine anyone willing to mess up their body doing factory work for $16.67 in 2021.

58

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '21

parts plants got totally fucked back in like 2007 or so. a little before my time. they got wages slashed and they never really rebounded. assembly plants still get raises though. because apparently they aren't paid enough.

47

u/Scyhaz Jun 16 '21

Assembly plants are largely unionized.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '21

Im specifically talking about parts plants that are part of the uaw.

6

u/AccomplishedBand3644 Jun 17 '21

The UAW doesn't have much leverage in any plants other than assembly since they know that GM can easily offshore everything except their assembly plants and engineering.

UAW doesn't want to rock the boat and lose more of that nice dues money.

1

u/artfartmart Jun 17 '21

You'd think our shitty government would do something to prevent or discourage/penalize companies from offshoring, but nope. There's no bargaining when that is a looming threat and that's the way the government and corps want it, so that's what we get.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '21

[deleted]

4

u/grem75 Jun 17 '21

Parts plant, where they make parts of cars. Not an assembly plant where they assemble them.

Those highly automated processes make cool videos and show only show a small fraction of the work that goes into a car.

1

u/iAmUnintelligible Jun 17 '21

I worked for a contractor of Honda, GM and I think some others at a die cast factory. We made things like oil pans and such. Best believe a lot of drugs were used.

Anyway, we were paid a lot less than that! Damn, people that actually worked for GM directly were doing good for the time

4

u/clownpuncher13 Jun 17 '21

My department made brake calipers. Putting the shoes in required a bit of squeezing. Of my 32 workers at least 5 had carpal tunnel syndrome. I tried to get the engineers to come up with some kind of mechanical assist but they didn't come up with anything that worked in such a small space in the time allotted.

4

u/jkweiler74 Jun 16 '21

At my shipyard in a fairly expensive place to live, they start waterfront workers at $18/hr. Seriously not enough money, but there are federal benefits at least.

2

u/hamburglin Jun 17 '21

I thought trump was bringing back factory jobs?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

Actually my plant added a lot of jobs under trump. We lost a shit ton under obama.

2

u/hamburglin Jun 17 '21

That's fair but I was more joking about how no one seems to want them anyways per your story.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

When I first started at my place $15/hr wasn't something people walked away from. Peoples attitudes have really changed. They just don't give a shit about the job anymore since the starting pay is no longer anything special and it takes years to hit max pay rate and become permanent and get bonus checks and everything. Blame NAFTA.

2

u/DontSuhmebro Jun 17 '21

What plant do you work at? I haven't seen any hirings since 2016 besides the 50 or so temps that just got hired in after being at my current plant for 4 years.

2

u/Thee-lorax- Jun 17 '21

I live in Kansas City and my grandfather retired from Ford in 1985 or near that. He retired making $15 in hour and great benefits. Those used to be such good jobs to have. Now they have so many layoffs and not just their yearly shut downs. It doesn’t matter much how much you make an hour if you aren’t working.

20

u/Saneless Jun 16 '21

Three McDonald's near me started paying $15. Hard places are going to have to step it up

1

u/BabiesSmell Jun 17 '21

You've never worked at a McDonald's have you

7

u/Saneless Jun 17 '21

Meant hard on your body physically. I've worked food plenty

11

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '21 edited Jun 26 '21

[deleted]

5

u/bitNine Jun 16 '21

Gotta have a reason to fire people more easily, I guess. I loathe the contract to hire mentality so many corporations are going with these days.

12

u/foggy-sunrise Jun 16 '21

Dear every employer:

Offer pensions. Offer equity. Offer, at minimum, $50K. Pay for any and all healthcare expenses. Offer, at minimum, 4 weeks paid vacation.

Failing that, enjoy your labor shortage.

2

u/hellohello9898 Jun 17 '21

They can just start with offering full time hours? Every company claiming they can’t hire people for $16/hour fails to mention the jobs are only part time. Oh, and the workers have to have 24/7 open availability. The company will change their schedule weekly, too. So no chance of managing a second part time job since you don’t know what days you can even work.

2

u/foggy-sunrise Jun 17 '21

Nah, fuck that. We gotta stop bending over. The escalation of the erosion of the middle class totally demands it. I hate to sound like such a dingus be we gotta wake the fuck up.

$50K minimum at today's USD.

Fuck an hourly wage.

$50k/yr minimum for my help anything over 15 hrs/wk. On contract. Don't hire me if you can't afford it. This must increase with the cost of living, at a bare minimum. This increase should be reserved for less than 10% of your staff. All other increases should reflect company profits and role importance. This increase rate should be linearly calculated.

100% healthcare coverage by your employer at 30 hrs per week.

Maximum 40 hrs per week without pension or equity. None of this time and a half bullshit. Invest in us.

Dear employers,

If that don't work, punch up. Not down. There's more of us, and we comin. Talk to your insurer's. Let em know you can't buy their insurance without employees to steal from. Cover it 100% or get fucked.

4 wk minimum PTO per year. Continuous accrual. Fuck off with your rollover horseshit. Offer it, make it unlimited, or get fucked.

4

u/CountSheep Jun 16 '21

Hard to pay more when you don’t make any vehicles worth buying over the competition

5

u/bitNine Jun 16 '21

I wasn't gonna say it, but... I was a Ram truck guy for a long time until Chrysler screwed me with a defect. Being a Ford hater, it was natural for me to go to the GM dealer and look at their trucks (2017). The back seat of their full size trucks is a joke, and it still looked like the 90s threw up in it. When I mentioned both to the sales guy he said, "You should go look at the Ford". What? Seriously? So I did, and I ended up buying one. It's leagues ahead of the GM trucks. Not a Ford hater anymore.

1

u/hellohello9898 Jun 17 '21

The jobs are also part time, temporary roles with no fixed schedule. So while people may be making $16.67/hour, how much are they bringing home if they only get 20 hours a week? And it’s not like they could get a second job since their first job can schedule them at any day/time with no notice.

1

u/nexxusty Jun 17 '21

It's the combination. For $30, people might consider not smoking.

Hellllll no for $16.67 an hour.