Closing nine plants and laying off thousands of workers will only exacerbate General Motors’ (GM) woes, the auto maker’s main union said Monday.
”We have said consistently that General Motors cannot shrink itself to prosperity. In fact, shrinking General Motors only exacerbates its problems,” the United Auto Workers said in a statement.
”GM’s return to prosperity depends on it offering products that consumers find attractive, exciting and want to buy. Only then will GM’s market share stabilise and grow; only then will revenues increase and only then will General Motors return to prosperity.”
The union blamed GM’s management for failing to make better capital investment, product development, design, marketing and advertising decisions, and said workers are suffering as a result.
The plant closures in Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Canada announced by the auto maker on Monday will result in the loss of 30 000 jobs and have a ”devastating” affect on those communities, the union said.
”Workers and their unions have worked hard to improve product quality and productivity at GM facilities in the United States and Canada, and these efforts have produced strong gains in both these critical areas, as reported in recent studies by JD Power and Associates and the Harbour Report,” the union said, adding that it will do everything in its power to protect workers affected by Monday’s announcement.
Under a current contract, GM is required to continue to pay wages and benefits to laid-off workers until they are able to find another job. The company is expected to fight hard to remove that provision when the contract is renegotiated in 2007.
”Today’s announcement clearly makes those negotiations much more difficult,” the union said. — Sapa-AFP