Thread regarding General Electric Co. layoffs

I used to work for GE Energy, steam turbines. The only reason GE was interested in Alstom was to eliminate competition. GE screwed it's self with the D-11 rotor design, and slipped to number 3 in the market. I interviewed with Alstom in the new shop in Chattanooga, and was impressed but did not work there due to the low wages, the shop was perfect. I was told the shop is sitting idle, what a waste.

@PNw0FIO-1asu We wish Siemens would've bought you too...

GE's plan was never to "breathe new life" into Alstom. GE has been acquiring companies for decades...keeping the best parts, selling off the rest. It would be naive to think GE was interested in anything else with Alstom. But what were the "good parts" of Alstom? Were any of the divisions making money?

To the person who says that European companies value workers over profits- that's exactly the mentality that kills a company (like Alstom). A business' sole purpose is profit...otherwise it is not a viable business and it cannot provide jobs.

GE did NOT spend all their cash on the merger with Alstom deal! They had at the time in off shore cash over $200 billion. Also GE had at the time Billions in cash in the states. So GE to claim to be broke is a joke! They might have some issues right now with the stock shares but I believe it’s all a ploy! With GE and the stock issue, and perfect timing with the national union contract coming up. I am sure after the company completely screws the union workers, after they screw all their employees with a disgrace of a contract. Then you will see the true GE! After contract Work will come back to all the businesses, stocks will rise, share holders will become wealthier. The union workers will struggle, with high healthcare costs, lower wages, next to nothing for retirement. Typical corporate greed going on here, and no concern over human need and a better standard of living. It is a cycle GE goes through they play the victim roll and unions are bad. Look at jobs without unions, wages, holidays, vacation, and high healthcare 401k. Look at unions 401k (pension got cut), lower wage scale, high healthcare but we have holidays off. Rich gets richer and middle class get poor. Good luck GE employees, life after GE is just as good!

As an ex-Alstom employee I can only say that GE treats it's employees poorly by comparison to Alstom. Alstom was in financial ruin so something had to be done, but for the majority of us this was a disaster personally. It is really a cultural thing..bottomline is European based companies appreciate their employees more than making a profit. American greed is real and it seems to be at the root of GE's issues regarding stock price , Trian etc. GE is turning a bigger profit and cash flow today than Alstom ever could have dreamed of and yet it is categorized by American stock investors as a "major dissapointment". I see a lot of complaints about European unions dragging their feet with GE holding up layoffs , closures etc but I applaud those countries for looking out for their citizens in the face of such greed.

Being a former Alstom employee I can tell you we thought GE would breath new life into our business and help the US market grow. What a disappointment GE has been. All we have seen is increased cost of benefits, less job security and our work being sent to other countries. I'd take Alstom back any day of the week.

Jack wanted Honeywell, Jeff wanted Alston.

I believe there's significant part of equation all of GE (Power) employees in the US are missing... cause simply it's not seen on the US soil. US is GE home... but go travel to Middle East... Europe... GE barely exists there... there're countries you won't see a single GE gas/steam turbine... and majority of the market is split between Alstom (formerly ABB as far as Power Gen) and Siemens. Regardless of Alstom acquisition merits... here in US ABB/Alstom turbine fleet is a single digit installed base... and GE - as shown over past two years - doesn't seem to care much about this market... unless customer is willing to reach down deep the pocket... go and talk to US native ABB/Alstom customers and you'll hear... for GE native management taking care of custom-made, non-standardized fleet seems to be a pure pain in the known part of the body. And you'll see all of the European lay-off restriction on the top of it... big story and certainly disaster for US employees... but also US Alstom customers...

Immelt wanted a legacy, plain and simple

Us former Alstom employees sure wish Siemens bought us instead of GE. What a friggin' disaster it's been!

Seriously, GE did not buy for the HRSG biz. HRSG is in jeopardy due to the Doosan acquisition. GE was initially unaware that there was a Utility Boiler and CFB boiler business in the portfolio to complete the whole plant offering.. Just my opinion.

I worked for Alstom at the time. It sort of made sense for GE to be able to bid the entire power island (Gas turbine, steam turbine, HRSG). I see a big vacuum in the industry where utilities, IPPs, and EPCs seem to be getting less willing to get X from ABC company, and Y from DEF company. They don't have the time or the expertise to manage all the vendor interfaces. The vendor who can supply the largest scope of supply sometimes has a big edge. The HRSG division was the crown jewel of the purchase. The rest was inevitably going to be redundant to some or extreme extents.

Hard to imagine there was a "pretty story" to tell of Alstom. They were in bad financial shape with too many employees when GE became interested. Can't see what the payoff was supposed to be...expanded market share?

I think buying Alstom was a symptom of GEs problems, and not the cause. GE has had a history of leaping before looking and throwing money at pretty stories told on powerpoint. It was going down before it bought Alstom. And now, those who made the decisions are actually being held accountable. Immelt, Bolz, Bornstein, 2 board members. . . This list will grow. We'll see how far it goes.

There were a bunch of free trips to Paris!

Alstom's Patrick Kron approached GE. It wasn't until the deal announcement was made that European regulators dragged Siemens into the mess with anti-trust concerns hoping for a competitive bid and to thwart the entrance of an American country into European space.

So GE cut its own throat so Siemens wouldn't cut theirs?

If GE didn't buy Alston Siemens would have. It was a defensive move.