GM plants in Mexico, Canada are operating as UAW strike drags on, underscoring division on outsourcing jobs
By Michael Wayland
Oct 8 2019
DETROIT – The United Auto Workers’ strike against General Motors, now in its 23rd day, has brought the majority of the automaker’s North American production to a standstill and prompted it to furlough more than 10,000 of its non-UAW employees.
The only North American assembly plants still operating for the Detroit automaker are the CAMI Assembly plant in Canada and two facilities in Mexico where GM is the country’s largest producer of vehicles. The plants, specifically Ramos Arizpe and San Luis Potosi in Mexico, represent one of the union’s biggest problems with GM more than with Ford Motor or Fiat Chrysler: outsourcing.
The only North American assembly plants still operating for the Detroit automaker are the CAMI Assembly plant in Canada and two facilities in Mexico where GM is the country’s largest producer of vehicles. The plants, specifically Ramos Arizpe and San Luis Potosi in Mexico, represent one of the union’s biggest problems with GM more than with Ford Motor or Fiat Chrysler: outsourcing.
Read more at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/gm-plants-in-mexico-canada-are-operating-despite-uaw-strike.html
The GM strike is a fight against the entire ruling class
8 October 2019
General Motors’ decision to double down on demands to expand temporary work, quintuple workers’ health care costs and keep wages growing below the rate of inflation marks a major offensive not only by GM against 48,000 striking autoworkers, but by all of corporate America against the US and international working class.
The ruthlessness of the corporation shows that if the strike is to succeed, workers must take control out of the hands of the UAW and expand the strike. The UAW has isolated workers and weakened their position, paying them $250 in strike pay and keeping Ford and Fiat-Chrysler workers on the job to help the auto industry withstand the impact of a continued strike.
The strike is causing significant disruptions in international supply chains. Yesterday, GM furloughed 415 of 2,100 workers at its Mexican V-8 engine and transmissions plant in Ramos Arizpe in the northern state of Coahuila. The 6,000-worker Silao, Guanajuato plant remains shut down. Over 10,000 non-UAW members have been laid off at parts and other related facilities in the US as a result of the strike.
Read more at https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/08
No end in sight for auto workers’ strike as union condemns GM over job security
7 Oct 2019
The United Auto Workers vice-president Terry Dittes has cast doubt on whether there will be a quick settlement in a contract dispute that sent 49,000 workers to the picket lines on 16 September, crippling General Motor’s factories.
Contract talks aimed at ending a 22-day strike by the UAW against General Motors continued on Monday after United Auto Workers union bargainers rejected a company offer on Sunday.
Dittes’ letter said the union presented a proposal to the company on Saturday. He said GM responded on Sunday morning by reverting to an offer that had been rejected and made few changes.
The company’s proposal did nothing to address a host of items, Dittes wrote on Sunday, specifying job security for members during the term of the four-year contract.
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/07/united-auto-workers-strike-union-contract
