Unions to oppose GM-Chrysler alliance
15 October 2008
Auto workers in the US and Canada are not too happy with the prospects of the Big Three becoming the Big Two (See: GM in talks with Chrysler, Ford). News of a potential deal between General Motors and Chrysler has them worried auto workers' unions in the United States and Canada worried about the consequential loss of jobs that any merger brings with it.
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger, speaking to Detroit radio station WWJ said he would not loke to see any development that could result in a consolidation which in turn would mean ''the elimination of additional jobs." He said that the UAW is about creating jobs, not losing them.
According to an earlier report in The New York Times, GM and Cerberus Capital Management, who owns over 80 per cent of Chrysler having acquired it from Daimler around a year go, would like to have the autoworkers unions on their side, and that a number of the cuts proposed would mostly be in common overlap areas such as research and development (R&D).
Gettelfinger said there had been no formal discussions with either GM or Chrysler about a possible deal between the two. He said that the auto worker's union had contributed significantly to the Big Three, helping in their survival by agreeing to healthcare concessions in 2005, and a new contract around a year ago that aided them shave production costs.
GM has announced a few days earlier that it plans to close a metal stamping plant newar Grand Rapids before the end of 2009, and that it would also move up the end of sports utility vehicle (SUV) production in Janesville, Wisconsin to 23 December. Gettelfinger said the move impacts over 2,500 hourly workers, and added that each time a facility went down, ''we suffer with the people because we know the impact that it's going to have on their lives".
US auto sales as of the end of September have bottomed out at their lowest in 15 years, mainly on account of a lack of credit for many buyers. GMAC Financial Services, General Motors' finance arm has announced a tightening of credit criteria for consumer automotive lending, and will now ask for credit scores of over 700, in addition to restricting the length of loan terms.
