HBO Documentary Films: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant Preview (HBO)

[DaviDeXtA]

Just a reminder to Americans about my countries once great industrial base in the UK. We once built the best cars in the world in the 1940's and 1950's....now ALL the car makers are gone with the loss of Rover in 2005. It could happen to you guys too.

[CTSVKINGWAGON]

I actually own the original 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer that was assembled at this plant and I can stand behind the quality. The interior may not be well designed and it may rattle, but I have 170k miles on it without any real issues.

[CompTechMike]

Just watched this last night, had to download a copy off bittorrent 'cause I couldn't find it anywhere else. I've owned about 10 GM cars in my life, and two American-made Chevy trucks, and am about to buy a 3rd (Chevy Colorado, manufactured in Shreveport, Louisiana). Really heart-breaking. :'( Shame this movie isn't better known, I'd challenge anyone to go out & buy an import, after watching this.

[tuna528]

GM ruins themselves,by selling lesser quality cars a nd trucks, and not standing behind there products!

[hlfpsttomorrow93]

my family has owned nothing but american vehicles. we have a 2003 chevy astro, and a 2008 trail blazer. love both of those vehicles. ill take a beat up old chevy that needs work over a brand new toyota any day.

[747777]

Beatlespurson you can buy the DVD at amazon or at hbo shop, hbo website.

[mcrissjr]

Just watched the documentary...it's incredibly sad and personal to me. I own two Chevy trucks produced at that plant. Half the people in that documentary probably built both of my trucks....

[wetp8nt]

they closed my plant cause of import sells, let me ask everyone, 'What do you drive' I am American an I drive an American built vehicle. GOD BLESS THE USA

[beatlespersun]

Does anyone know where I can get a copy or watch the entire movie?

[alief54]

we miss you oldsmobile,salute from indonesia

[jcol1226]

heart breaking..here in oshawa,canada people really got hit hard..everyone i knew lost their jobs, my old man and my including my self

[jen6238]

no it is the unions the cities are going broke with the public employee unions . the car makers union uaws is too greedy hey i could go on these people are totally self centered i mean really firemen and police and other public employees making over 100 grand for well protected workfare jobs I know several people whoi could not make it in the private sector and now are firemen and other public sector employees(i guess that's where ex......... never mind)

[cbone72]

USA

[747777]

Some of the fault goes to the unions for demanding more money for the workers. The majority of the fault goes to GM for engineering and designing poor quality vehicles. They were making money so they didn't care about being more innovative and keeping up with the times and what people demanded. Foreign cars are more reliable, consume less gas and depreciate much less than American cars. I feel bad for those who lost their jobs.

[Freeoneable]

I have 200,000 on my 2004 GM truck cab & chassis. GM built a halfway descent truck.... . so sad... I guess the politicians are comfortable with turning the US into a third world, non-manufacturing economy by using the man made global warming hoax as a reason to destroy ourselves. Oh well, we are apparently stupid enough to fall for it!

[thebigstir]

So it was the workers' fault that they had to build gas guzzling, oversized vehicles in a market that was clearly and massively downsizing.

Thats priceless.

Speaking of priceless, what did these insightful decision-makers at the top get paid for mis-interpreting the market for about 5 years?"

I guess if you weren't part of the UAW, you made out like a bandit.

[MFP1520]

lets take care people who make $8.00 hour and have no heath care.not someone who makes $60,000 year did not save money thinking that there job would always be there.go beg to the uaw not us

[USAon3]

Guess Barry's Bailout didn't do much, huh...

You can't blame Toyota or the UAW for this. The blame rests squarely on GM and their antiquated philosophy. In an age of $3/gal gas, they STILL insist on building these hulking trucks and SUVs!

GM and Chrysler can't put two brain cells together to build anything that gets more than 24 mpg in town.

This is your tax dollars at rest.

God bless the men and women that gave their hearts and decades of hard work to this decadent company.

[Stupidaso2]

When you Buy a toyota think about what your doing to GM auto workers. Fuck Toyota.

[Stupidaso2]

When you Buy a Toyota think about what you are doing to GM workers. Fuck Toyota.

[SpeedingStudent]

@Stupidaso2 When you buy a GM vehicle, think what you are doing, supporting the UAW, who killed GM. Fuck GM, and fuck the UAW.

[hanleyfallsmn56245]

These are great trucks! My '03 Bravada has been trouble free since day one, SUPER comfortable, and averages 20mpg! Thanks for making a great product. No one seems to care about the backbone of America anymore; the last American made Pontiac rolled off the line and no one even noticed.

[dhuntguru1]

Its sad to see this happen to a great plant I had the pleasure of working on the GMT 360 project back in 2000 for 6 months setting up the robots and programming them , all the people that I got to know and became friends with will be missed .God bless and good luck . PS POPEYE you rock buddy

[tramexurc]

Felicitaciones por este extraordinario material, y mi admiracion por toda la gente que como yo comimos y vivimos de la epoca de oro de la industria automotriz en todo el mundo, el nombre de mi padre es Mario Encina Avila de la planta de POE en FORD site Cuautitlan, bendiciones para los amigos y familas que trabajaron juntos Saludos

[MrGiorpap]

does anybody know where i can download those kind of films?

[hotdog2020]

As I read a while back.

GM is a insurance company with a car business on the side.

[pamcakes128]

where can i see this? anyone know any links?

[kyle51895]

Where can you watch this?

[KimFatBastard]

Thanks for letting us tell our side.

[tuna528]

UAW ruined GM

[araka08]

not all unions are bad and GM hurt itself to by not changing with the times there have been many non union companys that have closed for that reason also nafta and cafta has shrunk are base

[duie65]

bullshit

[BowtieZR5]

@tuna528 you need to see The Last Truck before you go talking about how the UAW killed GM. Moraine OH's GM plant was not UAW, but IUE-CWA, an electrican union. Idiot.

[armyabn]

Unions are unions, Idiot.

[tinram745]

@tuna528 i agree!

[IUEC38]

@tuna528 Right, because of all those shitty cars they designed...

[cbone72]

@tuna528 over seas car company's ruined gm

[pamcakes128]

where can i see this? i dont have hbo.

[summerdude]

RIP GMC Envoy/Chevrolet Trailblazer

[TralfazConstruction]

The public at-large doesn't seem to make the connection between a solid Industrial base and a thriving economy.

Selling hamburgers and imported Flat Screen TVs to each other won't cut it for the dwindling middle-class.

[chrispa9573]

@TralfazConstruction  well said!

[huntwds]

I'm somewhat torn on this issue.On the one hand I will never buy a car made by a foreign company.On the other hand I'm no fan of the UAW and believe they are the major reason the domestics are not competitive. Also the Feds share some of the blame, forced legacy costs like pensions gave the imports an advantage in price per car, forcing the domestics to rely on SUV's and pickups for the profit margin. Before the crash GM lost $3,000 on every Cavalier.

[bloej97]

I am also sure you work in some yuppy insurance office and your only opinion is the one you read in the comment section of your New York Times. Why don't you open your eyes, try working a man's job for one day working a trade or joining the army and I'm sure you would be bitching and crying the first week. It makes me disgusted to see so many foreign cars and unpatriotic people in our fine Countries. I'll say it again, go to another Country, come back and post the same comment, I dare you.

[kulgan18]

Pff sure is easy to blame toyota, honda and all japanese cars and their buyers.

Shame on them for making a superior product ah?.

The truth is american car makers screwed themselves by never adapting and keep making a crappy product.

[abrahamWCE]

Ford is happy

[biffnacid]

i wish i could talk to everyone who worked at this plant and who works at any plant in the US or Canada and tell them how prowd i am of them and that they truly are great people and great workers. this was a very sad documentary and everyone should see it

[bdogolddave]

I have had two new GN trucks with three defective engines in them . Maybe they ought to close.Sloppy poorly fitted parts in all three not even up to GMs loose tolerances.

[FrankeeFraud]

Wait a second! Weren't these the same UAW slobs who used to go out on strike all the time? And now they're talking about what "loyal employees" they were? Gimme a break.

[isladelluna05]

These are UAW workers and proud to be don't forget that for a second! Secondly if they had to go on strike it was for a good reason!! Whether it was because the work environment was unhealthy or unsafe. The Unions stand up for Americans who take pride in their work and are trying to earn a decent wage, decent benefits, and provide for their families. I wish you FrankeeFraud were a little educated on this issue, that way when you open your mouth you know what you are saying!!

[huntwds]

@FrankeeFraud

I worked on the 1999 Silverado and it's initial sales were set to beat the F150 for the first time in years and the UAW went on strike. I worked at Midlux and I remember a brand new windshield robot sitting by the line still wrapped waiting for the assemblers to retire or leave the job for another at a time of their choice. I remember the crap they gave to salaried employees. I lost my job, now it's their turn.

[hotrodkid7]

I think that every single person in America should watch this video, so they can see after all these years of buying toyota, honda, nissan... how it has demolished whole Cities, towns, & most importantly peole lives.

"the high cost of low prices" huh?

[tinram745]

wtf are you talking about? all those japanese brands you mentioned above build lots of cars in morth america . the problem with the big three is that they have always have been poorly managed. it has finally caught up to them. the car crisis is not only affecting american cars, it is also affecting german and japanese makers too. the funny thing is that you don't see the german and japanese makers chasing their governments for bail-outs. they are better managed.

[Spahi77]

any auto maker allowed to manufacture on US soil should have had them use Union labor.....the big three had union labor, and all jap companies getting away with murder on pay....and then you say mismanagement.....yes mismanagement was part of the picture....allowing foreig companies to have non-union labor was the biggest!

[bigscottlarock]

There's a Toyota plant in my town and they have given over 6,000 people jobs. The parts used to make Toyota's cars are mainly made in the US. But, the same can't be said about Ford, Chevy, or Chrysler who have most of there parts made in Mexico or Canada. So who's really buying American.

Car plants from the Big 3 are closing and new plants for Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen are building right now. Maybe if the Big 3 focused more on quality than quantity then maybe things would be better.

[ksharris]

My uncle worked for Delphi for almost 30years and when they went belly up he transfered into a GM plant. That plant closed maybe 2 years after he transfered so this really touch home. It is so sad because these types of jobs will never come back to america. If they do people want may 25-30 dollars an hour as an employee.

[genocideistheanswer]

this is not the america i grew up in. i am not a prophet or anything but i knew that nothing good would come out of the mass production of SUV's such as hummers, suburbans, escalades, etc... basically GM itself

[MaxiesGal]

I watched "The Last Truck" just now. I feel so bad for every American who is left adrift this way. These proud, hardworking people, and those before and after them, have been f$#*@d by what each greedy, lobby controlled government official at every federal and state level has done to us and our country.

[leon323]

ok so where is the last turck at now ???? was it sold ? did gm keep it ?

[ChuckD7200]

i hate when people say gm makes shitty cars i work in a body shop everyday and i can say all EVERY single one has made crap cars but all of them have stepped up there game anyways this doc. was really really put together and i didnt want a tear to come from my eyes but its happend this country is falling apart and its both parties problem you think the companys are Greedy its the reb. and dems they are the greedy ones, time for a large third party

[Lemansalter7]

Kate and Darlene; a great movie. This was unquestionably the best GM facility in America.

[GoogleVideoAlexJones]

watch if you havent already The Obama Deception HQ Full length version

[kkatrinamorenoo]

does anyone know where i can watch this documentary? i dont have hbo...

[wolfmanwon]

Watched this last night with a laid-off GM supervisor. I retired from Chrysler 1 years ago. We both thought it was very good and it put a human face on a hateful America that doesn't seem to realize what is happening or care in Midwest America.

[Ladyscorpion29]

I just finished watching this documentary and it hits close to home. My dad used to work in the GM plant located in Linden, New Jersey, since 1976. Luckily he was able to retire before it was shut down.

It was so painfully sad seeing the building torn down by those powerful bulldozers. Everyday we would drive by and stay there for a while and just watch. Nothing but rubble was left. All things must come to an end, and that was just another chapter in my dad's life.

[Ladyscorpion29]

Wow, what a sad documentary.

My dad also worked in the GM plant located in Linden, New Jersey for more than 30 years.

Seeing the plant destroyed by bulldozers to the ground was one of the most saddest experiences for my dad. Luckily he was able to retire months before it was shut down.

[Lonsoleil]

Looks interesting, but depressing.

I feel sorry for these people, but I do NOT feel sorry for the GM Corporate Executives. The workers are going to suffer while the executives are still rolling in dough. I seriously doubt that The Exec's lifestyles have changed even one iota during the US's economic recession.

I'm definitely going to give this film a watch. I hope they discuss the issue I just mentioned.

[killerbandit]

Thank you GOP for gutting the manufacturing base of the USA.

[Vitaminous]

Yeah, because Michigan certainly wasn't run by Democrats for so long.

Oh and weren't all the trade agreements with China signed by Clinton anyhow?

Seriously, neither parties can keep their line, because their line can't be kept anyway.

[ARTOFWAR2008]

GM in the 60's those car and trucks were great. Now they make shit. Learn from the enemy, they make better car and trucks. If you've ever seen the movie tucker, the guy was right.

[iluvcamaros]

Ford and GM's trucks are the best in the world.

That is just the truth.

F-150 has consistently been the best selling vehicle in the US period.

Right behind is the Chevy Silverado

[ScottiePatron]

Looks like another very interesting documentary from HBO. I loved "Which Way Home" and "Assault In the Ring" both.

[alexking2121]

ok last good