The United Auto Workers union has criticised the latest General Motors restructuring plan for taking more US jobs overseas.
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In open letter to US senators, signed by legislative director Alan Reuther and published on its website, the UAW said the GM plan calls for the closing of 16 manufacturing facilities in the US, including four assembly plants, resulting in the direct loss of 21,000 jobs.
“The ripple effect at suppliers, dealers, and other businesses will cost tens of thousands of additional jobs, devastating numerous communities across the United States,” the letter said.
“Incredibly, between 2010-2014, GM’s restructuring plan also calls for a 98% increase in the number of vehicles it will be importing into the United States from Mexico, Korea, Japan and China, with the number of imports from these countries increasing from 371,547 to 736,743.
“As a result, the share of GM’s sales in the US market that will be imported from these countries will increase from 15.5% to 23.5%. The overall number of vehicles GM will be importing in 2014 represents the production of four assembly plants, the same number that GM plans to close in the United States.”
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By GlobalDataThe UAW said it recognised that GM needs to “right-size” its production in the US to reflect current reduced consumer demand for its vehicles and that automakers will have facilities in other countries so they can build vehicles in the markets where they sell them.
“But the UAW strongly objects to GM’s restructuring plan because it essentially means that GM will be shifting more of its manufacturing footprint from the US to Mexico, Korea, Japan and China, and importing more of the vehicles it sells in the US market from these countries,” the letter added.
“In our judgment, if GM is going to receive government assistance to facilitate its restructuring, along with the benefits from tremendous sacrifices by UAW members and other stakeholders, we believe it should have an obligation to build in this country the vehicles it will be selling in the US market, thereby maintaining the maximum number of jobs in the United States.
“GM should not be taking taxpayers’ money simply to finance the outsourcing of jobs to other countries.”
The union told senators that, in contrast, the planned Chrysler/Fiat alliance includes a commitment from Fiat to manufacture a small car in one of Chrysler’s US assembly facilities and also includes a commitment to share its key technology – engines and product platforms – with Chrysler, which is equivalent to an investment of more than US$8bn.
“Together with the sacrifices by UAW active and retired members, these investments will help to secure the long-term economic viability of Chrysler and will create 4,000 new jobs in this country,” the UAW said.
“The UAW urges you to join with us in expressing your opposition to GM’s plans to close factories and eliminate jobs in the United States while it is increasing imports from other countries. In addition to expressing this directly to GM, we urge you to join us in calling on the Obama administration to insist, as part of the terms of any further government assistance, that GM be required to maintain the maximum number of jobs in the US, instead of outsourcing more production to other countries.”
