G.M. dealers are moaning that qualified technicians are becoming impossible to find. We have been searching for an A tech for several months and have found nobody qualified. We just hired a dealer tech relocating to Florida from Missouri. We don't know if he really is qualified yet as he is starting tomorrow.

If they want to know why nobody qualified is available, they just need to look in the mirror. Dealer techs are used and abused by both the dealer and the manufacturer. Any recognition, awards. etc. goes either to managers, salespersons or service writers. As techs, we have learned that every time a meeting is called to restructure our pay plans, the result is a pay reduction while they extol the virtues of the new plan. "we're cutting back this time and that time and we expect you to do this new service without pay but you're going to make more money." I'm not one to drink the Kool-Aid as it's hard to see how reducing paid times are making me more money.

Training is available but most techs have learned that training is to be avoided. In order to perform warranty work on a Volt or a Bolt, for example, you need to be trained and G.M. certified. What is your reward for this? You get to do work on the most complex vehicles that G.M. makes for a pittance in paid times along with .3 diagnostics. Virtually all work is warranty with basically no CP labor. Techs have learned that it's better to remain untrained and work on brakes and flushes instead.

G.M. is constantly cutting back labor times for the same job with no justification. For example, reprogramming an I03 radio and loading new graphic files used to pay .9 and there is even a bulletin where G.M. says that this job will take 2.5 hours. It was reduced to .5 and has just been reduced to .2...I can't get the vehicle in the shop in .2.

Now G.M. and it's dealers have instituted a mandatory program where every vehicle MUST have a 27 point safety check performed AND entered line by line into a online program to track. We are not paid to do this and is doesn't matter if the vehicle has 2000 miles or 200,000 miles as all are mandatory. Each vehicle takes a minimum of 15 - 20 minutes to perform. If you work on 8 cars a day, you have just spent 2.5 hours in unpaid labor each and every day.

So, when I see crocodile tears from G.M. and their dealers about how top level techs are getting scarce, I say, ASK YOURSELF WHY?

James from Florida