UAW: "GM Should Not Be Taking Taxpayers' Money Simply to Finance the Outsourcing of Jobs to Other Countries."

Oh noes! The UAW did the math on GM and Chrysler’s newest restructuring plans and it’s not pleased at all. Well, with GM’s plan, anyway. Commence angry letter ( PDF) to Senator: [blank]!

“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 U.S. 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.”

“The UAW recognizes that GM needs to “right-size” its production in the U.S. to reflect current reduced consumer demand for its vehicles. We also recognize 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 U.S. to Mexico, Korea, Japan and China, and importing more of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. market from these countries. 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 U.S. 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.”