How Mary Barra and General Motors treated drivers with contempt

Mary Barra earns $33 big ones, or about 634 times what an average Holden worker takes home. She's worth about $90m and she's the chairman and chief executive of General Motors in Detroit. She started in the CEO job in January 2014, when the GM stock price was $US40. Today after closing five factories in the US, punting 14,000 employees, "winding down" sales, design and engineering operations in Australia and New Zealand, "retiring" the Holden brand by 2021 and flicking about 6000 people, most of whom won't get similar jobs, the stock price is $US35. Sensational.

In 2005, GM sent a letter to their US dealers warning them that faulty Chev Cobalt ignition switches could cause the cars to suddenly stall. In the first three months of 2014, GM recalled 2.6 million cars because of the same faulty ignition switches that were now linked to more than 100 deaths of mainly young people.

The GM Ignition Compensation Fund found 12 cases where people suffered quadriplegia, paraplegia, amputation, brain damage or burns from a crash for which the defective ignition switch was the primary cause. By June, GM had recalled 28 million cars for a variety of reasons.

Vox's Brad Plumer investigated the scandal and wrote: "On March 31, 2014, GM CEO Mary Barra appeared before congress and couldn't explain why it took a decade for the company to recall its vehicles after identifying the problem as far back as 2001 and 2004."

Shara Lynn Towne was a 37-year-old mother of five. In July 2004 Shara's new Saturn Ion went into a power pole. Shara died on impact. She was wearing her seatbelt, but the airbags didn't inflate. Family lawyer Brian Chase said: "GM knew of this defect back then, and yet made a decision to quietly settle out of court so there would be no media or government attention."

Sixteen-year-old Amber Marie Rose was adopted at birth by Terry DiBattista. In July 2005, driving her new 2005 Chevy Cobalt, her car left the road and hit a tree. The Chevy's airbags never deployed after the crash because of the faulty ignition. The carmaker admitted it knew about the problem as early as 2004.

Outside the congressional hearings, Terry DiBattista said: "It is clear that GM is only concerned with their bottom line and not the safety of our loved ones."

This is the same GM that sucked Holden dealers into investing significant millions in upgrading or building showrooms, an investment demanded of them by Holden, while knowing they were going to end the brand. It's the same GM that only told the government and dealers minutes before the press release went out. This is the same GM that happily took more than $2bn from the government to keep the business going.

This is not the death of Holden, that was in 2017 when they shut manufacturing. This is the funeral of an arrogant multinational that treats countries like Australia as if they were a dealer in Toad Suck, Arkansas.