Rodger and me

[Bertram65]

First of all let me preface this by saying I am not a Michael Moore fan, and I know this is only side of the story. I watched the movie tonight on Encore, for those who do not know it is story of the closing of the GM plant in Flint Michigan and Michael Moore trying to get an interview with the chairman of GM Rodger Smith.

I found the movie very depressing, I wonder what other people who have seen the movie thought of it. I was in disbelieve at the events that followed the closing of the plant. I am sure GM is not the only company to do this to a city but when they explain how they opened plants in Mexico paying workers $ . 70 and hour and how Smith got a $2M dollar raise. Then showing people being evicted a couple days before Christmas and Smith sending a holiday message to GM workers. Unbelievable is all I can say

 

[Sled Puller]

It's been awhile, but that movie almost gave Moore some credibility, then he went off the deep end with his next ones.



I don't know why they closed it, but I bet it had something to do with ongoing Union trouble for 50+years.



Local paper mill lost a 1. 5 million lawsuit to the Union workers, it was frivolus, back pay for years, some messed up fine print, I couldn't believe they pushed it.



Anyway, the Union won, they paid up-and closed the doors. Several hundred people out of $30 hour jobs. But by gosh they showed them in court, didn't they? Hope their $300 settlement lasted them along time.



Workers have to choose their battles.

 

[PRyker]

B65,



Is that the movie where someone is selling rabbits and eating them for food cause they have no money? I have seen both extremes. I have worked as an organizer for the CWA (communications workers of america) and have been in management. As in all human endeavors there are both good people and bad people. This applies to unions as well as big corp management.



Although I consider myself a conservative I still believe unions have their place in this country. The auto industry is one of them. So is transportation and service industries. I would like to see Wal-Mart employees become part of a collective bargaining unit. I think they need the representation in a corp as large as Wal-Mart. They can easily get lost in the profit game.



Phil

 

[Bertram65]

B65,



Is that the movie where someone is selling rabbits and eating them for food cause they have no money? I have seen both extremes. I have worked as an organizer for the CWA (communications workers of america) and have been in management. As in all human endeavors there are both good people and bad people. This applies to unions as well as big corp management.



Although I consider myself a conservative I still believe unions have their place in this country. The auto industry is one of them. So is transportation and service industries. I would like to see Wal-Mart employees become part of a collective bargaining unit. I think they need the representation in a corp as large as Wal-Mart. They can easily get lost in the profit game.



Phil

Yes, that is the movie, Moore sees a sign on a pole that says something like rabbits for pet or meat. He goes back a couple times to see how the woman is doing, she says she is making like $10 a week from the rabbit sales, which pay for her groceries, on the second visit she explains how the board of health came and explained how she had to build a building for her rabbit bussiness that met all the board of health criteria. She was hitting the rabbits over the head with a pipe and skinning them while they hung from a little rope tied to a tree, they showed it. I think the point of the rabbit lady in the show was to show how she was barely making it by any means and then the board of health shows up to close her down.

There were a couple other interesting things in the movie as well, Flint opened Autoworld, a theme park dedicated to the auto industry, I cannot remmember the figures but they spend millions, closed 6 months after it opened. They also tried to make Flint a tourist town through several expensive projects that failed shortley after being completed.

The attitude of some of the GM execs they interviewed was unbelievable, they could not seem to understand how the plant was the only thing in Flint, take the plant away and you kill the city, thier attitude was just find another job don't be lazy. There were no other jobs, the crime rate was really high as well. At one point he interviewed a gun store owner, his bussiness was thriving with all the new crime, he explains how a pump 12 gauge is the way to go. The also interview a ex auto worker who has been trained as a prison guard, he gets to guard the auto workers who have turned to crime and now are in prison. There is a lot a irony in the movie.